438 
time and what the origin. ‘The use of sheet- 
copper, manufactured and manipulated with 
mechanical precision, will to most minds be 
sufficient evidence of European agency and 
post-Columbian time. 
This view is enforced by the presence of 
articles of brass and iron in the mound with 
one of the shell objects. 
Besides this, a study of the designs them- 
selves develops some interesting facts. Four 
of the designs presented, two on copper and 
two on shell, represent compound creatures, 
part bird and part man. This is a character- 
istic American conception, but in the execution 
of details there are features very suggestive of 
an oriental origin. The wings are, for instance, 
attached to the shoulder-blades behind, the 
arms being also present, and expand symmet- 
rically to the right and left, resembling medi- 
eval angels more closely than Mexican deities. 
We notice, also, in the delineation of the eagle, 
a decidedly heraldic character, a symmetrical 
extension of the wings, legs, and talons highly 
suggestive of some imperial coat of arms. 
In all their leading features the designs 
themselves are suggestive of Mexican or Cen- 
tral-American work; and, if actually derived 
from some of the highly cultured nations of 
Fig. 5.— Copper image from a mound in Georgia. 
the south, it is not impossible that this deri- 
vation was through aboriginal agencies: but: 
some of the examples in shell and copper 
SCIENCE. 
shown in the accompanying figures bear the 
ear-marks of transatlantic workmen; and [I 
believe it quite probable that they are south- 
ern works copied in favorite American mate- 
Fie. 6. — Copper eagle from a mound in I]linois. 
rials by the avaricious Spanish conquerors, and. 
subsequently used in trade with all the tribes 
of the Gulf states. This is well known to 
have been a usual practice with our early tra- 
ders. 
If in the end it should turn out that these 
remarkable objects are the unaided work of 
the mound-builders, we shall be compelled to 
recognize their standing in the manipulation’ 
of metal, and in the art of design generally, as 
unsurpassed by any other native American 
people. W. H. Homes. 
ADAPTABILITY OF THE PRAIRIES FOR 
ARTIFICIAL FORESTRY. 
Various views have been entertained in re- 
lation to the treeless condition of the prairies 
of the interior region of the United States, 
some of which are rational, some partially so, 
and others positively erroneous. ‘The opinion’ 
has been popularly held, that the prairies were 
originally covered with forests, as the region: 
to the eastward of them was when it was first: 
known to white men, and that from some un- — 
explained cause these forests were destroyed. 
Those who entertain this view are disposed to’ 
discuss speculatively the origin of the prairies,’ 
and practically the means of reforesting them. 
These are views of men who lay no claim to: 
scientific knowledge ; but certain persons, even) — 
of scientific pretensions, have claimed that the® 
character of the soil of the prairies is such, 
(Vou. IL; No eZ 
