condition and evidently of recent burial. In the centre of the mound, 

 about 25 feet below its apex, there was an excavation or trench, running 

 north and south, in which there were a good many skeletons. One of 

 these had a fine natural appearance, but it fell apart as soon as it was han- 

 dled. One of the specimens now presented was a fragment of it. 



Mr. Terry stated that he had a number of specimens of bones 

 and ornaments similar to those presented ; also a piece of cloth 

 apparently woven with some kind of wood, a conch-shell, and 

 several small shells uslhI for beads, all from the mound. He pro- 

 mised to present them to the Academy. 



Judge Holmes said the piece of blanket and the shells would 

 be very acceptable to the Academy. 



These small shells brlnnged to the genus Marginella, and came from the 

 sea-coast. The same species of shells were found in the Grave Creek 

 Mound, near Wheeling, V'a., and in many other Western mounds. In 

 1870, he took some of these shells from the Big Mound at St. Louis to the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology of Cambridge, where they were identi- 

 fied by Prof. Shaler as a species of Marginellu. and they were presented 

 to the Museum of Ethnology at that place. They were perforated with 

 small holes for use as beads. 



Judge Holmes spoke of Mr. Foster's work on archzeologv as containing 

 the best account of these mounds. He states one fact with emphasis, and 

 that is that all the skeletons found fall to pieces unless immediately im- 

 mersed in a solution of glue. This fact argues the great antiquity of the 

 mounds. Mr. Foster also establishes pretty clearly that there were two 

 different types of skulls in these mounds, the older skulls being more do- 

 lycocephalic than the later. The mound-builders certainly belonged to a 

 very remote antiquity. Writers have tried to .ipproximate the lapse of 

 time by the growth of forest-trees, but it is altogether superficial and no 

 criterion. Some figure out the age at from 600 to 1,000 years, but the pro- 

 bability is that it is nearer 10,000. Another fact seems to be established 

 by these researches, and that is, that the Peruvians, ancient Mexicans, 

 and the inhabitants of this country, were of the same race. The inhab- 

 itants of this country certainly had some civilization, as the fortifications, 

 specimens of pottery, etc., go to show. The question then comes, "By 

 what means was this civilization broken up.-"' From all the evidence, the 

 strong probability is that the people inhabiting the more northerly regions 

 retained their savage customs, and c-owiling down upon the more peace- 

 ful inhabitants of this valley, the latter were finally driven out and pushed 

 southward. Yet we have every evidence that they were the same race of 

 people. This involves the manner in which population began here. We 

 are certain that the country became peopled at a date so remote, and the 

 residence here has been so long, that the traits of the original settlers have 

 had time to undergo much modification. The evidence goes to show that 



