Human Foot-Prints in Solid Limestone. 25 
and weapons among the aborigines: There are none of our In+ 
dian tribes who have made any proficiency in sculpture, even 
since the iron hatchet and knife have been exchanged for those 
of flint and obsidian. All their attempts in this way are grotesque, 
and exhibit a lamentable want of proportions ; the same which 
was seen in the paintings and in the figured vases and pottery of 
the Asteecks of Mexico, when their towns and temples were fitst 
visited by the Spanish conqueror.” ‘ 
The learned Mantell, the distinguished geologist of southeastern 
England, coincides in opinion with Schooleraft, as to the true 
fossil character of the foot-prints; but though he expressly refers 
to Schooleraft’s article, he seems to have overlooked the charac- 
_terof the rock; for he speaks of the impressions as being made 
in sandstone. The passage occurs in his “ Wonders of Geolo- 
gy,” already referred to, at p..76, where he has copied School- 
eraft’s drawing of the foot-prints. He says: 
“In connexion with the occurrence of human bones in lime- 
stone, I will here notice a discovery of the highest interest, but 
which has not as yet excited among scientific observers the atten= 
tion which its importance demands. I allude to the fact announ- 
ced in the American Journal of Science, (Vol. v, for 1822,) of 
impressions of human feet in sandstone, discovered many years 
ago in a quarry at St. Louis, on the western bank of the Missis- 
After giving the plate, he-adds: “'The above figure is an exact 
opy of the original drawing, and exhibits the impressions of the 
1, aura oD, vm bd ve erry op incu Bice ees: 
Po a 
ae 
Peres Se wre OU 
from each other, as of a -* di A | ! 7 standi g upright, in an easy 
position. ‘The prints are described as pre nting the perfect im- 
press of the feet and toes, exhibiting the form of the muscles, 
and the flexures of the skin, asif an accurate cast had been 
taken in a soft substance. ‘They were at first supposed to have 
been cut in the stone by the native Indians, but a little reflection 
sufficed to show that they were beyond the efforts of those rude 
children of nature ; since they evinced a skill and fidelity of ex- 
ecution, which even my distinguished friend, Sir Francis Chan- 
trey, could not have surpassed. No doubt exists in my mind, 
that these are the actual prints of human feet in soft sand, which 
was quickly converted into solid rock by the infiltration of cal- 
careous matter in the manner already described. The length of 
Vol. xt, No. 1.—April-June, 1842. 4 
