88 Indian Mounds and Earthworks. 



ing to the different gasometers or other vessels between which 

 the transfer is to be made ; and by means of the part EC the gas 

 be made to pass in either direction at pleasure. 



I ought to remark before closing, that previous to my applica- 

 tion to Messrs. Brown & Francis, they had manufactured several 

 air pumps of this description, with the exception of the tube G, 

 which was added at my suggestion ; and which adapts it in a pe- 

 culiar mEinner for use in a chemical laboratory. 



Messrs. Brown & Francis also manufacture a much smaller air 

 pump, with a single barrel of the same construction. 



Art. VIII. — Notes respecting certain Indian Mounds and Earth- 

 works, in the form of Animal Effigies, chiefly in the Wisconsin 

 Territory, U. S.; by Richard C. Taylor, Esq. 



During the past year, whilst traversing, in the society of some 

 scientific friends, that portion of Wisconsin Territory which is 

 bounded by Illinois to the south, and the beautiful Wisconsin 

 River to the north, we frequently found our attention attracted 

 by the singularly formed Indian mounds, of which the elevated 

 prairies, as well as the rich valleys and the borders of the lakes 

 and rivers of this region, afford such numerous specimens. 



The existence of abundant traces, apparently monumental, of 

 an ancient and now probably extinct nation, within the country 

 under our present recognizance, was known long ago to its early 

 explorers, of which the French were doubtless the first, in the 

 seventeenth century, and has been mentioned by some of the 

 travellers who have subsequently written concerning this coimtry. 

 But I was unprepared to discover in the forms of these remains, 

 whose origin is so obscure, other than the usual simple tumuli ; 

 such as abound on the borders of the Ohio, and throughout the 

 great valley of the Mississippi, and upon the green plains and 

 rich bottoms of the Missouri ; which tumuli do closely resemble 

 those which are so profusely scattered over the plains of Europe, 

 and are especially abundant on the chalky downs of England. 



Rumors of the remains of an ancient city, discovered within 

 the past year, in the eastern part of this territory, wherein the 

 ground plans of supposed buildings and fortifications may still be 



