Suburban Geology of Richmond^ Indiana. 313 



tion of an acorn and its cup into iron pyrites. Some time after 

 I procured it, the cup split lengthwise and fell into several pie- 

 ces, so as to separate the acorn-formed nucleus, and thus expose 

 its whole form. It will be perceived by reference to the prece- 

 ding figure, that compared with the position of an actual acorn 

 in its cup, the ends appear to be reversed, the more pointed end 

 being concealed in the cup. 



Mounds. — It was not until I met with the suggestion in Ban- 

 croft's History of the United States, that I was aware that any 

 geologist entertained the opinion, that these tumuli were fortuit- 

 ous formations. And as the Association of American Geologists 

 has set afloat the question of their natural or artificial origin, I 

 have embraced these embossments of the earth's surface in the 

 present article. 



I find on turning to my note-book, that I have made a memo- 

 randum of seven mounds existing within the compass of a few 

 miles around Richmond. Most of these tumuli would be termed 

 very small, varying from five to twelve feet in height. As far 

 as they have been excavated they are composed of clay ; but I 

 have never discovered any stratification in them. At the base 

 of one which I opened in 1823, I found a human skeleton, with 

 the head exactly in the centre of the mound, fragments of wood 

 coal, the bones of some other animal, and a piece of ivory reduced 

 to great thinness by artificial means. In another mound, deeply 

 interred, was found a considerable quantity of charred Indian 

 corn. The bones could not be taken out whole ; they were so 

 decomposed as to crumble to pieces in the hand. The ivory was 

 much less decayed. 



I cannot myself believe that these are natural cones, formed 

 by deposition from gyratory waters, or by any accidental cause ; 

 but on the contrary, during the examination of numerous mounds 

 in the west, large and small, in various situations, connected and 

 unconnected with other embankments, I have been irresistibly 

 led to acknowledge the correctness of the popular opinion, that 

 they are the work of human hands. 



Richmond, Indiana, Oct. 12, 1842. 



Vol. xliv, No. 2.— Jan.-March, 1843. 40 



