Perry.] 144 [February 28, 
be briefly recapitulated, for it is not needful now to take them up in 
detail. Recalling the time requisite for the depositions made in the 
Newer Plistocene times; the work done in the two stages of the 
Holocene, viz.: that accomplished in the Marl period and that in the 
Peat period; also what has been effected since the recent times have 
come in; we are enabled, after making such allowances and exclu- 
sions, as a reasonable view of the facts may dictate, to form some es- 
timate of the relative length of the era which has been in progress, 
since vegetation made its appearance on the brown terrace sands of 
the New Haven region, soon after no doubt to be followed by man. 
Simply allowing twenty-five thousand years for the Marl period, 
and the same length of time for the Peat period, we have fifty thou- 
sand years,—all this duration, while taking account neither of the Re- 
cent nor of the Terrace period, which was probably not a little ex- 
‘tended. There is much other proof, and some perhaps of a far 
more striking character, furnished by different sections of the coun- 
try. I have, however, preferred to confine myself to some of the 
more salient points of evidence furnished by this region. And I 
have been the more disposed here and there to gather up a hint in 
this direction, since Professor Dana seems largely to ignore the mat- 
ter, as if he would have it inferred that all that has taken place 
during the Post-Glacial times could be readily compressed into a few 
thousand years. In saying this, I would not insist that an immeas- 
urably long time has necessarily elapsed; one needs to guard equally 
against both extremes; or rather, it is better not to be over-anxious, 
as to whether the time has been long or short, but mainly desirous to 
read the facts as they are, and thus to get at the truth. 
One word more on this point and I have done with it for the pres- 
ent. Prof. Dana in substance asserts in the extract last made, that 
the shell-heaps evince that the Jndian inhabited the plains before 
the land was covered with soil. If by Indian he mean the Red Man, 
whose home was in New England, when North America was discov- 
ered and from time to time visited by Northen, and afterward re- 
discovered by Columbus, many no doubt would question his state- 
ment. Does he, however, use the term loosely and in a general way, 
as synonymous with the expression “ aboriginal man,” employed by 
him on the preceding page,! no question need be raised. It now 
seems probable, if not clear beyond a doubt, that the Red Men were 
not here in the Terrace, or the Holocene period, and that thus we 
1 Paper cited, p. 104. 
