92 Canadian Record of Science. 



I think, bound to ascribe a greater antiquity to the Mound- 

 builders' skeletons than to those found in the ancient bur- 

 rows of Europe. Other considerations, such as stream 

 encroachment, and river-terrace formation, might also be 

 brought in as presumptive arguments in favor of their great 

 antiquity. 



Origin of the Mound-Builders. — This is a question not 

 easily answered. It brings me into no discredit before the 

 educated world to acknowledge ignorance on this mysteri- 

 ous point. The study of Craniology and Philology, in con- 

 nection with Ethnology, shall alone throw light on this 

 subject. Dr. "Wilson says, in his " Prehistoric Man " 

 (p. 123), "The ethnical classification of this strange race is 

 still an unsettled question," and he declares without fear of 

 contradiction, "that especially concerning the Scioto Mound 

 skull, the elevation and breadth of the frontal bone, differs 

 essentially from the Indian, and that the cerebral develop- 

 ment was more in accordance with the character of that 

 singular people, who without architecture have perpetuated, 

 in mere structures of earth, the evidences of geometric skill, 

 a definite means of determining angles, a fixed standard of 

 measurement, and the capacity as well as the practice of 

 repeating geometrically constructed works of large and 

 uniform dimensions." 



Undoubtedly they were skilled in agriculture, from the 

 remains of ancient garden-beds, which were cultivated in a 

 methodical manner. The modern Indians give no such evi- 

 dence of labor. For wherever they are found they love to 

 roam in undisputed possession of the forest, and lead an 

 indolent life. Of course I do not assign this as a valid rea- 

 son for their not being identified with the Mound-builders. 

 An ancient race may have a degenerate offspring. 



Nor shall I attempt to find in the various inscriptions any 

 clue to their Hebrew origin, or to identify that ancient 

 people with the lost tribes, as some have dared to do. Foster 

 inclines to regard them as emigrating from the tropics, 

 rather than coming from the north. 



This would involve us in investigating the antiquity of 



