THOMAS.] 



OHIO. 



493 



THK .'iEKPKNT MOl'NI>. 



P'or the purpose of comparison with other published figures of the 

 celebratetl Serpent mound of Ohio, we add here a carefully drawn illus- 

 tration (Fig. 326) made by Mr. W. H. Holmes while visiting this aiicieut 



Fig. 236. — The Serpent mound, Aflams county, Ohio. 



work in 18S8. It is given without comment, as our only object is to 

 place on record a drawing made by a well-known artist. 



the northeast part of the "New Fort" next the " Parallels," which are the highest 

 in the entile wall measure, according to Mr. Moorehead, as slinwn fn his section of 

 Station i, Plate VI, only 17 feet in height. Second, because the earth necessary to 

 construct a wall 31 or 32 feet in height and 69 feet wide at the base would form a 

 ditch or series of excaviitions of a ch.iracter and dimensions of which we find at pres- 

 ent no indications, and which, if they ever existed, would still form a marked feature. 

 At no point is there a ditch exceeding 6 feet in depth and 30 in width. 



The error in his method of estimating the contents of the wall is apparent fromhis 

 calculation of the deposited earth cut up to form the wall, whicli is the only portion 

 that should be included in the estimate. Talse, for examjile, his section of station 

 241, plate VI, of which we insert here a copy (Fig. 325), adding only a dotted line to 

 show the line of tbe original surface. 



Now, instead of taking the difterence between 27.26 and 23.30 feet or 3.96 feet as 

 the height of the wall, he assumes 27.26 feet— measured perpendicularly down the 

 outer slope 23.30 feet below the bottom of the inside ditch — as the height of the wall, 

 and the distance from one perpeudi<-ular to the other as the width of the base. The 

 error in this method of estimating the contents isso manifest that it needs no further 

 illustration. A horizontal line drawn from the bottom of the ditch, that is to say 

 from the top of the perpendicular marked 23.30 feet, would probably gi\''e about the 

 correct height and width of the base, as the amount of the original soil above the 

 line on the left or inner side would about equal the added earth on the outer slope 

 above the dotted line. 



