Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1868-08-27
SeneraI ssntrlIiaenfe.
THE SCIENCES.
Evidenees OF Remote Civilization ON
the western Continont.--sNature OF
Elee9rlo Dtaohargea.

Judging nom the papers WHICH nave
been read, the meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement Of Science,
which has been in progress for the week
past has been very interesting and in
structive. On the conclusion Of the gener-
al business on the 1lth, Dr. j. H. Gibbons,
of Charleston, s. c., read paper "On the
artistic evidences of q remote colonization
on the great Western or American Conti-
nent by maritime people OF distinct
nationalities before the modern era;i Of
which the following is an abstract, ~
The antiquities Of America have attracted
the attention Of Europe more than they
have those Of our own country generally.
The evidences Of the neighboring State Of
Wisconsin, carefully surveyed by MIR. lap
ham aud published with the Smithsonian
collections in 1853, strongly incline US to
believe that the earth mounds OF North
America had an existence anterior to the
curious architectural structures in Yueatan
or the ciyilizationof Peru and its neighhor-
hood. The red men Of America were never
charged to have invented alphsbetic letters,
vet at the head of the great lakes in the
State of Wisconsin, there are eleven such
characters apparently used as numerals
| formed on headlands of water courses as if
10 indicate distances, in Coptic and Etrus-
can characters. Baron Humboldt describes
some sculptures on rocks near the banks-of
the Oronoco, which he considered Punic,
and among the monuments of Central
America, several letters Of the Grecian
alphabet are distinguishable. The profles
OF faces exhibited in the hieroglyphics
copied by Mr.. Catherwood, indicate a
variety Of nations from different quarters
Of the earth, There are aged men in
metallic armor, wearing boards and
arabesque ornaments, that have Milesian
physiognomy, while seamen in cloth caps
and mustache bear much the air Of dashing
inidshipmen of the present time.
There are women wearing hoods and
children carrying medals on their breasts,
while there are the scriptural forms and
countenances of priests, artisans and sea-
men, little caricatured according TO an
Eastern artistic practice, and negro coun-
tenances intermingled with those Of the
aborigines. There are PROSTATE figures In
armor with grave and serious countenances,
having native Indians standing on their
backs to show them as their conquerors. =
The aborigines have forced the foreign az
lists thus to describe events they were not
competent to in the same style and perfec-
tion.
The style Of the buildings erected upon
artificial mounds, are described to resem-
BILE those east Of the Euphrates and OF the
Island of Ceylon. The provisions for the
preservation of grain and ample supplies
Of water characterize the habits of the
East. The mounds Of Wisconsin also dis
play the forms of arms and weapons of an
Eastern people, while numerous imple-
ments for mining are also found In the
earthworks
In the collection of Mr.. Davis, Of New
York, who has given great attention to the
antiquities of the mounds of Ohio, was
found rock weight which approached q
half pound ayoirdupois, standard Of an
tiquity introduced by the Syrians into Ca
diz OF Spain eleven centuries before the
modern era. If this should be confirmed
by other stone weights Of thesame standard,
it will open very curious field for specu-
lation, as these commercial weights are
known to prevail throughout the vast en-
pire Of China, at Timbuctoo, in the heart
of Africa, and were used by the Carthagen-
iens and Hebrews, to which last nation
they were recommended by Moses as per-
feet and Just weights. Such fact in the
Hebrew writing seems an evidence that
these exact weights existed in his time.
We are inclined to attribute to maritime
people ofa very arlyahtiquity knowledge
Of the form and movements of the earth.
The globe with wings, attended by q SER
pent, the emblem Of wisdom, was cele-
brated symbol over the Egyptian tenn
ples-in our opinion the result Of some
prominent astronomical discovery. Mr..
Stephens has described stoco ornament
Of this description with the wings Of the
globe reversed; geographical description
Of the relative positions ofEgypt and Yuca-
tan, which are the antipodes of each other.
As it is only possible to give brief outline
Of very numerous ancient arts will only
describe the appearance of earthen vases
in Peru, apparently designed to perform
the functions of distilIation, simple art Of
separating spirit from its combination
employed by the wild Tartars and the peo-
pie of Ceylon, whose simple contrivance is
described by DR.. Davy The ancient mari
time nations were famous for their pottery
and other manufactures, as well as for nau-
teal explorations. The resemblances we're
strong between the pottery Of different
portions of America and those Of the an
cient people OF the Mediterranean.
The union Of very small portion Of tin
with copper tools and arms, is another in
dication Of early connection between Asia,
Africa and America, since those exhibited
by Mr.. Layard, from the ruins Of Babylon,
show the same peculiarities. Egyptian,
East Indian and Chinese weapons are alSo
thus prepared to procure extreme hardness
of temper. 1t is not probable that suoh
art was the result Of choice, since copper
alloyed with tin is not found native. The
earth-mounds commencing at the head of
the great Northern lakes attend the great
water courses to the Gulf Of Mexico. They
appear to have served as places of defense
and for trade; contained altars for worship
and convenience for cattle, like the mud
forts of India. Among the precepts of the
Mosaic law, In order to avoid the expen-
sive details of Egyptian architecture, a
command was given to form simple affairs
of earth, and not to employ those Of hewn
stone The reference to more simple
form of worship induces US to believe that
the object was a reformation of pre-existent
practices. In Peru, there exist, among
what is known as the Inca's Palaces, rem
nants Of CyOlopean walls.
NATURE OF THE ELECTRIC D1scHAnaE.
Prof o. N. stoddard read the following
paper on 1.-THE nature of electric dis
charge"
That theory seems very unwieldly which
conceives of electricity as two fluids impon-
derable and undefnedly rare, quiet when
united, but intensely active when separa-
ted, and that all the violent effects are due
to the transfer of the fluids through bodies.
And this conception constantly manifests
itself in the statements of the laws and
phenomena Of electricity.
Few, it is believed, will object Gtpfesent
to the Wow that tho electric force is mole
cuIar, that whatever doubt now exists az to
its precise nature and mode Of operation,
that it is connected with, and acts by and
through, those particles which chemistry
contemplates as atomic; that whatever
changes or descriptions are wrought by it,
are operations going on among those atoms;
Il ,1.ak.fr 4. ~ Al, ., 49,. -.