226 Remarks on the Prints of Human Feet. 



by a letter which is transmitted with thc^e remarks, that 

 Col. Benton entertains a different opinion, and supposes 

 them to be the resnh of hnman labour, at the same period 

 of time when those enigmatical mounds upon the Ame^rican 

 Bottom, and above the town of St. Louis, were constructed. 

 The reasons which have induced liim to reject the opinion 

 of their being organic impressions are these : 



''1. The hardness of the rock. 



"2. The 71'ant of tracks leading to and from them. 



"3. The difficulty of supposing a change so instantaneous 

 and apropos, as must have taken place in the formation of the 

 rock, f impressed xchen soft enough to receive such deep and 

 distinct tracks.'''' 



To those who are familiar with the facts of the existence 

 of sea and fresh water shells, ferns, madrepores, and other 

 fossil organic remains, in the hardest sandstones and lime- 

 stones of our continent, the hardness of the rock, and the 

 supposed rapidily of its consolidation, will not present ob- 

 jections of that force, which the writer supposes.* But 



Several tracks of the human foot are reported to exist upon the rocks 

 between Esopus lauding and Kingston, on the Hudson. Chas. H Rup;gle?, 

 Esq. Representative in Congress from Kingston, to whom I mentioned this 

 i-eport, has no knowledge of the fact. 



A detached block of stone near the residence of Com. Rogers, at the city 

 of Washington, has been frequently resorted to, on account of its bearing 

 the supposed prints of the human foot. 1 have recently visited, and made a 

 cursory examination of this stone, in company with l)r! Darlington of Penn- 

 sylvania, and Albert H. Tracy, Esq. of N. York, both Representatives in 

 the present Congress ; but am not prepared to describe it. H. R. S. 



*The following interesting fact, touching the history of secondary rocks, 

 has just come to liglit. The workmen engaged in lilasting rock from the bed 

 of the Erie Canal, at Lockpoit, in Niagara county, lately discovered in a 

 small cavity in the rock, a toad in the torpid state, which on exposure to the 

 air instantly came to Jile, but died in a few moments afterwards. The cav- 

 ity was only large enough to contain the body, witliout allowing room for 

 motion. No communication existed with the atmosphere : the nearest place 

 of approach to the surface was six inches, through solid stone. It is not 

 mentioned whether the rock was sandstone, or limestone; but from the 

 prevalence of limestone on the surface of the contiguous country, it may 

 be presumed to be the latter : the country is wholly of secondary formation. 

 These animals have frequently been found imbedded in clay, gravel, &c. 

 but no fact of their having been observed in melt, is recollected. Of the 

 causes which enable animals of this class, which have been suddenly en- 

 veloped in strata of earth, or otherwise shut out from the air without injury 

 to the animal organs, to resume, for a limited period, the functions of life, 

 on being rcdored to the atmosphere, no explanation need here be given, as 



