Septkvber 14, 1SS3.] 



SCIENCE. 



365 



only to rejoice in tlip ijrowinir lij;lit of ohcinistry and 

 biology, lint. i|nickent?(l liy their warnitli, to jiut fortli 

 new lite anil vigor, and to apply to their investiga- 

 tions the most refined instrumentalities and the 

 niostsubtic thought; believing with Lord Lytlon that 

 man. is a subject of far nobler contemplation, of far 

 more glowing hope, of a far purer and loftier vein of 

 sentiment., than all the 'Hoods and fells' in the uni- 

 verse. 



PAPERS READ BEFORE SECTION H. 



(MOUNDS AND MOUND-BUILDERS.) 

 The great mounds of Cahokia. 



nv WILI,I.\M M, AI>A.MS OF At.TOX, II.I.. 



TnK mounds referred to are in tlie locality known 

 as the ' American bottom.' The region so called is 

 a strip of alluvial land in the state of Illinois, lying 

 between the bluff and the Missis*ippi river, and ex- 

 tending from the cily of Alton to a point below the 

 city of E.i>t St. Louis. A map of llie locality, show- 

 ing the places and dimensions of the mounds, was 

 exhibited before the section. The mounds are over 

 two hundred in nunil)er, and are the largest in tlie 

 United Slates. A group of seventy-two mounds on 

 the Cahokia creek was specially considered. The 

 central mound of the group is the largest: it is a 

 hundred feet high, and covers fourteen acres of 

 ground. It is a truncated pyramid with two terraces: 

 its flat lop has an area of one and a half acres. The 

 surrounding mounds are thirty to forty feet high: 

 they are square, In this respect differing from the 

 conical mounds of Ohio. The mounds on the bluff 

 seem to be of a different order, being only four or 

 five feet high, and round or oval. Unque>tionably 

 the mounds of the Cahokia valley are arliKcial, being 

 made of black alluvial earth, entirely different from 

 the ground on which they rest. 



The author accounted for the fact that there were 

 few mounds on the banks of the Mississippi river, by 

 supposing that the mound-builders were afraid of 

 their enemies beyond the stream. 



Numbers of relics have been found in the Cahokia 

 mounds, moslly of flint, some of them eighteen 

 inches long. The finest is a white flint axe, whicli 

 is of a smoothness and polish like ivory. In reply 

 to an in(|niry, the author stated that there had been 

 considerable alluvial deposit formed since the mounds 

 were built. The subsoil is a yellow clay loam : under 

 the mounds is a floor of while sand. 



In discu>sing the paper. Gov. Bross stated that be 

 had discovered, on the top of the only round mound 

 of the group, a large flat stone, which he tliought 

 might have lieen used for sacrificial purposes. A 

 skeleton had been found, of a man more than six feet 

 high: the whole series of mounds gave evidence of 

 the energy and industry the men of that time had 

 possessed. Dr. Hoy said that there was in Africa a 

 mere bird that tlirew up a mound fifteen feet high, 

 so that these men might not have been even large. 

 Mr. Putnam expressed the ophiion that the mounds 



were simply a site for a lown, and not a worshipping- 

 place. Mr. McAdams .said he had been led to believe 

 they were places of worship, by the use of just such 

 mounds for places of worship in Mexico, their sun- 

 worship being tlieir goveniraent. There are few^, it 

 any, evidences of habitation. 



Metrical standard of the mound-builders, by 

 the method of even divisors. 



BY C11AUI.es WUITTl.ESEV OF CLEVELAND, O. 



I\ the absence of the author, an abstract of the 

 paper was read by the secretary of the section. An 

 endeavor was made, by the method named, to ascer- 

 tain the standard of linear measurement which was 

 used by the mound-builders. It is supposed that 

 they, in common witii other early races, used the 

 length of some part of the human body as a linear 

 unit. Several theories of the kind were tested math- 

 ematically, but, thus f.ir, with only negative results. 



The mound-builders identified. 



BV .lOIIX CVJiriUCLL OF MO.NTIiEAI., C.\N. 



Tins paper was read by the secretary of the section, 

 in the absence of the author. 



It was a pains-taking attempt to trace the origin 

 of the mound-builders in the eastern liemisphere, 

 chiefly by means of a comparison of ancient lan- 

 guages along the line of a supi)osed route. The line 

 of similarity was believed to indicate that the origi- 

 nal people were Khitan or Khitos, Kalliaci, Kalei, 

 Khilon, or Citem; and that they had made their way 

 across Europe and northern Asia to Alaska, and 

 thence to the United Slates, down the Mississippi 

 valley, to Mexico. 



Professor Mason, the president of the section, ex- 

 pressed the opinion that Professor Campbell was on 

 the wrong track, while complimenting him upon his 

 exceeding zeal and patience in his research. Pro- 

 fessor Mason consoled himself, however, with the 

 thouglit that the author had so thoroughly ex- 

 hausted the subject tliat no one would ever attempt 

 a similar experiment. Mr. D. A. Robertson of St. 

 Paul differed from the president, and expressed the 

 opinion that Professor Campbell was on the right 

 track, and that the migration of the mound-builders 

 would be traced from Siberia, or by the European 

 isles, and, if not in one migration, in several. 



Typical shapes among the emblematic - 

 mounds. 



BY S. D. PEET OF CLINTON, WIS. 



By means of diagrams, the author exhibited the 

 gmund-outlines of different mounds which he had 

 surveyed in Wisconsin, which showed. th.at they had 

 Ijeen maile in the form of animals, in different pos- 

 tures. There were flying geese, eagles, jack-rabbiU«, 

 panthers in the act of jumping upon their prey. 

 Many of the supposed efligies were of great size, 

 the (ail of one squirrel having a lenglh of three 

 hundred feet. One of the mounds was in the shape 

 of an elephant, with a very ])ronounced trunk. 

 This mound, however, is now destroyed; and the 



