ROCKY MOUNTAIN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 6 1 
The state of the arts and commerce among the dif- 
ferent nations of Indians has been well described by 
Mr. C. Ran, in a paper on Ancient Aboriginal Trade 
in North America," published in the Smithsonian Re- 
port for 1872. He shows that their commerce must 
have been considerable by way of exchange among 
tribes living widely apart 
The archaeological remains of North America 
point unmistakably to the existence of one or more 
races upon this continent anterior to the appearance 
of the Indians. The evidence of this rests upon re- 
mains and implements found, and the material of which 
they are made. Much may be inferred from the local- 
ity as well as position from which they are recovered, as 
from caves, mounds, gravel-banks, mines, and earth 
deposits, which point to their remoteness, and bear 
evidence of a sequence in time of occupation by an 
antecedent and subsequent people of the same locality? 
as well as their degree of development, to be inferred 
from the implements themselves. 
Shells from the Pacific obsidians and flints from 
Mexico have frequently been found in the mounds of 
the Mississippi Valley. Their skill in the arts is 
shown by their implements of v/ar and of the chase, 
fishing, agriculture, domestic utensils, and by their 
more elaborate carving in stone and on shells, and 
their work in pottery of various forms, burnt and 
glazed. Some of the figures modeled in clay or cut 
in stone are fanciful enough, but many resemble ani- 
mals they admired or dreaded, and, although rude, 
are readily recognized. In a few localities polished 
stone implements have been found, and some attempts 
