56 [Senate 



the principal muscles of the foot and toes, except that the toes were some 

 ■what more widely spread than mine. Mr. Maclure, Dr. Troost, Say, 

 and Mr. Lestieur, then residents of Harmony, examined the rock at the 

 same time. They all agreed in opinion as to the artificial origin of the 

 tracks, with good reason, I think; for the task seems to me more easy 

 than the fabrication of many of our native vases and other antiquities. 



"'I can say with confidence that there is no perceptible difference 

 between the appearance of the tracks now, and in 1826, when I first saw 

 them ; and I find that others, who were then in the habit, like myself, of 

 seeing the specimen daily, coincide with me in this opinion. 



SAMUEL BOLTON.' 



" Messrs. Maclure, Sat, Troost, and Lesueur, appear thus to have 

 agreed as to the artificial origin of these foot-prints ; yet among the vari= 

 ous writers who have broached the subject, others have expressed a very 

 different opinion. 



''Mr. Schoolcraft, in the article already referred to, and which first 

 introduced the matter to the scientific world, expresses his unqualified 

 conviction that they are true fossils; and remarks, that "every appear- 

 ance will warrant the conclusion, that these impressions were made at a 

 time when the rock was soft enough to receive them by pressure ; and 

 that the marks of feet are natural and genuine. Such was the opinion of 

 Grovernor Cass and myself, formed upon the spot, and there is nothing 

 that I have subsequently seen to alter this view ; on the contrary, there 

 are some corroborating facts calculated to strengthen and confirm it. 



"The learned Mantell, the distinguished geologist of southeastern 

 England, coincides with Schoolcraft as to the true fossil character of 

 the foot-prints ; but though he expressly refers to Schoolcraft's article, 

 he seems to have overlooked the character of the rock ; for he speaks of 

 the impressions as being made in sandstone. The passage occurs in his 

 "Wonders of Greology," already referred to, at pa. 76, where he has 

 copied Schoolcraft's drawing of the foot-prints. 



"After giving the plate, he adds: 'The above figure is an exact copy 

 of the original drawing, and exhibits the impressions of the two corres- 

 ponding human feet, placed a short distance from each other, as of an 

 individual standing upright, in an easy position. The prints are described 

 as presenting the perfect impress of the feet and toes, exhibiting the form 

 of the muscles, and the flexures of the skin, as if an accurate cast had been 

 taken in a soft substance. They were at first supposed to have been cut 

 in the stone by the native Indians, but a little reflection sufficed to show 

 that they were beyond the efforts of those rude children of nature ; since 



