No. lis. j 55 



1824, sold the New-Harmony estate to my father, the slab also came into 

 my father's hands, and ultimately into the possession of the late William 

 MACLtTKE. After his decease, it was presented to me by his executors, 

 and is now preserved in my museum of natural history at New-Harmony. 



"This slab itself is a ponderous mass of solid limestone, weighing up- 

 wards of a ton. Although fossils had been observed in the vicinity of its 

 original location, yet until lately no remains had been discovered on the 

 specimen itself. In preparing to remove it, however, from Mr. Maclfre's 

 residence to my laboratory, observing a horizontal fissure which extended 

 entirely across the rock, I split off by the aid of wedges a continuous 

 layer, some two or three inches thick, from its inferior surface. This opera- 

 tion, besides materially facilitating its transportation, discloses, as I had 

 hoped it would, some familiar 'fossil shells; and I subsequently discovered 

 a good many more by reducing the detached portion into small hand 

 specimens. I was thus enabled definitely to determine the age of the rock. 



"The fossils obtained (four species of Product a), proved on examina- 

 tion to be the same species which I had often previously observed at 

 Leavenworth, in Indiana, on the Ohio river, and elsewhere, in a rock, the 

 exact geological position of which I had already satisfactorily ascertained. 

 This stratum lies from ten to twenty feet below the lowest members of 

 our true coal measures, and is considered the equivalent of the mountain 

 limestone of Europe. 



"So much for the age of the rock in which these foot-prints are found. 

 The question next presents itself, are they true fossils, or are they the 

 work of art? 



"To aid in the solution of this question, I have given (in the plate 

 accompanying this article ) a correct representation of the slab, with the 

 foot-prints and other marks, as they at present appear. That during the 

 twenty-two years since it has been quarried, no material or appreciable 

 alteration seems to have occurred, may be inferred from the following com- 

 munication from a gentleman now residing here, to whom I am indebted 

 for many valuable additions to my geological cabinet, and who visited and 

 critically examined the specimen sixteen years ago, in company with 

 several distinguished naturalists : 



" 'In reply to your enquiries regarding the now famous limestone slab 

 with its human foot-prints, I have to say, that in the year 1826, I visited 

 and examined it repeatedly and minutely, and have a perfectly distinct 

 recollection of its appearance at that time. I then compared the foot-prints 

 with my own, placing my naked foot on the impressions. They corres- 

 pond very accurately both in outline and in the depressions, answering to 



