54 
itself at this early age in a noteworthy manner. The ves- 
tiges of an earlier race than the red man, which have since 
been made the subject of the researches of a Squier and a 
Davis, of a Lapham and of a Haven, and to which, during. 
‘recent times, fresh: attention has been directed by the devel- 
opments of the high antiquity of the human race in Europe 
as shown by similar relics over the surface of that country 
and by the lacustrine remains in Switzerland, attracted his 
notice and were made the subjects of survey. Although 
these investigations were not published, they are, I believe, 
the first we have record of; those of Caleb Atwater, who 
is called by Squier and Davis “the pioneer in this depart 
ment,” not having been published until 1819. Full descrip- 
tions and measurements of several of these mounds, partic- 
ularly that of Circleville, were made and sent to his friend, 
J. G. Swift. To most youths of his age those remains of 
structures, built 
« while yet the Greek 
Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms 
Of symmetry, and rearing on its site 
The glittering Parthenon,” 
would have been passed over with vague curiosity or listless 
indifference. Not so with young Totten. Although not 
able, perhaps, to perceive all the ethnological importance ~ 
which has since been attached to them, he could yet appre 
ciate them as objects of high interest, as vestiges of the rot 
which had inhabited the country, and give his time to their 
examination and measurement. 
During the two years which he passed in the office of 
his uncle at Ludlow’s station near Cincinnati, he was 
_ eompanion of several young men who subsequently became 
_ Conspictous, among whom were Nicholas Longworth, Sam- 
uel Perry, Daniel Duke, Thomas Pierce, and Peytot 
