for there are many kinds of worship. Sun worship and even idolatry or human personification may be recognized in some of them, yet the earliest or most primitive forms are those which present animal figures. We judge that this worship was really the first source of the whole system. This idea we shall endeavor to illustrate, as one of the chief points which arise in connection with the study of the subject. The comparison of the emblematic mounds with the carved relics and inscribed figures would suggest this, but the study of the figures themselves enable us to carry out the point to a much greater extent.

Turning to these animal figures we shall illustrate from them the different stages of symbolic growth. There were many dif ferent lines by which symbolism has been perpetuated. 1. The inscribed figures. 2. The line of pictographs. 3. In the line of sign language. 4. The carved relics. 5. By architectural structures. 6. By hieroglyphics.

We shall

I. We call attention first to the inscribed figures. show how a latent symbolism may have been contained in the rude ornaments but which has come out by degrees. The progress of the art of inscribing figures has been illustrated by Dr. Rau in connection with the description of the relics which were seen at the Centennial Exhibition. See Fig. 1. The shell ornaments which are now in the cabinet of the Smithsonian Institute, have been described by him and their artistic and symbolic character pointed out. Some of these were mere perforated shells which were worn as rude ornaments, but others are quite elaborate and suggest latent symbolism in the figures inscribed upon them. They were gathered from many different localities; the shell heaps of Florida (257); the mounds of Tennessee, (258); the shell heaps in California, (260). Some of them are beads taken from Dos Puebloes Santa Barbara, California, (262, 263, 264 and 265); from Georgia, (266); one pin shaped relic from Florida, (268); Wampum beads, (269) from Upper Missouri; disks perforated with holes, from Santa Cruz Island; pendants from New York, (274 and 275); Crescent shaped pieces (276), symbolic irregular forms from California, (277, 278 and 279); and last the inscribed serpent (272) from Tennessee. These different specimens show how ornamentation grew into symbolism, the gorgets which were worn as ornaments ultimately being charms and totem symbols which were expressive of the religious sentiment of the person wearing them.

We call attention to one figure which is here formed upon the inscribed shell. It will be noticed that the figure of a serpent or rattle snake with mouth open, body coiled up, is the one which here presents itself. This is a very common figure in the socalled shell gorgets and especially on those found in Tennessee. It would seem that in this region and in Ohio, serpent worship had become very extensive. At least the form of the serpent:

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was as much set by as if it was a ruling symbol and gives the impression that this peculiar form of superstition had gained lodgement in these localities. It would seem that serpent worship had great effect upon the art and architecture of America for the form of the serpent appears everywhere. The serpent was not, however, the only animal which was embodied in the symbols of this region, for there are many other figures on the inscribed shells and tablets. Among these we may mention the duck and wild goose and other feathered creatures.

We call attention to the so-called "Berlin Tablet," see Figs. 2 and 3 This was evidently symbolic. The shape of the tablet presents the same contour which many of the ceremonial axes do. The same shape is sometimes seen in the earth works themselves. The tablet is inscribed with a certain mystical figure which resembles in its outline a feathered creature, either duck, loon or goose. The tail is spread out, head thrown back, breast thrown out, legs drawn up in front, wings drooping behind, but all traced by a single unbroken line which follows the contour of the tablet itself. The only separate figures upon the tablet are an oblong oar in the centre, a drawing which resembles a duck or goose in the tail and three dotted circles which resemble the sun.

This tablet we believe is genuine. *It was taken from a mound near Berlin, Jackson county, Ohio. The material is fine grain sand stone. It was found by Dr. J. E. Sylvester below charcoal and ashes and mucky dirt and burnt sand rock, about five feet below the surface of the ground. It was standing on edge unattended by other relics except pieces of graphite and two arrow heads.

The Gest Stone or "Cincinnati Tablet," is another prehistoic relic which shows that symbolism was common among the mound-builders. This is supposed to contain a picture of the human form but the figure is a complicated one and is not easily recognized. +

The Gest Stone has the same characteristics which the Berlin tablet has. Its contour is expressive of a familiar symbolic shape and is bordered by parallel lines. It contains various marks as if it might have been used either for a tally stone or tablet or as a sort of calendar to keep the record of feasts. It was taken from a mound in Cincinnati in 1841 and is undoubtedly genuine. The tablets found near Wilmington resemble these in some particulars but this has been doubted and so we leave it out of the account. The inscribed figure is

*It was described by Dr. Sylvester in the Antiquarian for July, 1878.

+ See American Antiquarian Vol. 1, No. 2, and North Americans of Antiquity, pp 46, also pamphlet by Rob't Clark. The inscribed shells have many figures resembling this and together with the tablet show that symbolism was quite extensive among the mound-builders,