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THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.

PART FIRST.

THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND OF THE MOUND BUILDERS, AS RELATED BY SCIENCE.

The discoveries of Columbus, and of Portuguese mariners shortly before, opened an era of great importance to Europe and to mankind. They lifted the veil that hid another world from the eyes of the dawning modern civilization, enlarged tenfold the field of adventure and of business activity, and stimulated enterprise by the promise of brilliant rewards. For a thousand years Europe had been a general battle field, whereon fierce passions, towering ambitions and conflicting interests had wasted the resources of church and state. These new openings for energy gradually relieved the deadly stress of conflict between nations and classes, and changed destructive forces into agents of progress and prosperity. In this reconstruction of views and interests, which was made slowly but surely, many illusions and false notions, religious, social and political, disappeared. Mankind seemed now to come of age, so to speak, and enter, for the first time, on the serious work of life.

New experiences and a vast multitude of new facts could not all be harmonized with old theories, and the habit of more attentive observation, which the necessity of fresh explanations gradually introduced, led to the re-organization of the old sciences and to the development of many new ones. It was

the starting point of truer study by more careful investigation. The world, for instance, was proved to be round by mariners who constantly sailed in the same direction till they at length came back to their starting point; this laid a solid foundation for a true theory of the planetary system and the starry world; stimulated inquiry into the laws that govern the motions of the heavenly bodies, and thus enlarged and corrected the Science of Astronomy. In a similar way every branch of knowledge profited by the great events of the Columbian Era.

Yet it took a long time to find out the most effective and reliable methods of study, and to teach men not to draw conclusions too hastily. Many difficulties were met in organizing this practical school. It was not easy to throw off the influence of old habits and views, and men found it hard to believe that those who had been revered for their learning in former times could have made so many great mistakes. The great men and the theories of the past had become identified with institutions whose influence and authority seemed to be attacked by the new learning, and persecution was frequently added to the other embarrassments of the student of science.

Many of the sciences required long and difficult researches, and the observations which must furnish the material for true theories accumulated facts slowly. The science of geology properly commenced with the inquiry how marine shells could have been placed in the heart of rocks and on the top of mountains. It was long before the true explanation could be found. Some rocks did not contain shells at all, but bore the appearance of having cooled from a melted state. These were so numerous, especially in some regions, that it was believed by some that all rock was formed in that way, although that view did not satisfactorily account for the rocks containing the shells. Other regions showed very few, or none, of these fire-made rocks, nearly all contained the remains of organic life, and, the principal effort being to account for them, the theory was advanced that all rocks were formed in water. Much study

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