374. ANTIQUITIES, American.—
I thank
you for the extract of the letter * * * on
the antiquities found in the western country.
I wish that the persons who go thither would
make very exact descriptions of what they see
of that kind, without forming any theories. The
moment a person forms a theory, his imagination
sees, in every object, only the traits which
favor that theory. But it is too early to form
theories on those antiquities. We must wait
with patience till more facts are collected. I
wish your Philosophical Society would collect
exact descriptions of the several monuments as
yet known, and insert them naked in their
Transactions. Patience and observation May
enable us in time, to solve the problem, whether
those who formed the scattering monuments in
our western country, were colonies sent off
from Mexico, or the founders of Mexico itself?
Whether both were the descendants or the
progenitors of the Asiatic red men.—
To Charles Thomson. Washington ed. ii, 276.
(Pa.,
1787)
