Editorialana. 111
living authorities. He informed me at
that time that he had been trying
to induce Professor Wright to visit
Wadsworth, for that purpose. Every
one who is acquainted with Capt. T. D.
Wolbach knows that it is utterly
impossible for him to deceive. Habit
makes character, and his word
alone is worth most men's bond.
WERE THE MOUNDS USED FOR DWELLINGS.
[As a sample of the various curious
theories advanced by dif-
ferent writers concerning the purposes
of the mounds, we give the fol-
lowing, written by Dr. I. N. Smith,
Westerville, Ohio, and published
some time ago in The Ohio State
Journal. - EDITOR.]
Were the earthworks which the
Mound-Builders left built for dwell-
ing places? Dr. I. N. Smith of
Westerville is urging this theory. He
says:
The unknown has a certain fascination
for many who will work
away for years, or until the mystery
will be in certain degree solved.
We, as a people, have been planted on
this American continent, where
we found a people scattered over its
entire extent, who knew nothing
of the people who preceded them. They
knew nothing as to who built
these ancient works, nor what became of
them. The people we found
here-The American Indians-or native
Americans-showed different
physical build, according to the tribes
to which they belonged.
Not so the Mound-builders. So far as can
be ascertained, they
presented a certain fixed type of
manhood, that was alike over the whole
extent of the North American continent.
Their works were alike. How
came this similarity over so vast an
extent, where the only communi-
cation was by footpaths and trails?
A theory to be of any value must account
for existing known facts,
or a greater percentage of the known
facts than some other theory.
The theory I wish to advance now is that
these people came from the
south, gradually working farther north
along our system of rivers,
going south each year with birds and
returning to their northern haunts
the next spring. This ebb and flow of a
people who gradually increased
until they became millions were the
means by which we find the simi-
larity of physical constitution and the
sameness of all their works.
NOT JUDGED BY PRESENT CONDITIONS
Now let us look at the enigma--the
mound. There has been too
much judging by our own mode of
living-by our own civilization-
by what might be termed "extreme
poetic license," if I may be allowed
such an expression. Let us again
theorize. Suppose that after these people
had grown in numbers to such an extent
that the locality where they
spent the greater part of the year began
to be of some value. Well, sup-