434 [November. 



In 1847, I procured from a mound in the Wateree Swamp in Richland District 

 part of a cranium, which I forwarded to Dr. Morton, and of which he wrote me : 



" The skull is valuable in my series, as it is the only adult with the teeth that 

 I have ever possessed." 



During a heavy freshet in the Congaree River in August, 1852, several In- 

 dian cemetries on its banks were exposed, and many explorations were made 

 with a view to the collection of their remains. Numerous bones were found, 

 with many stone implements, but no crania, except the subject of this notice. 

 For it I am indebted to my friend Col. Frank Hampton, who found it on the wood- 

 lands Estate of his father a few miles below Columbia. A high, dry sandy 

 bluff was undermined by the current and fell, exposing an ancient burial place 

 in which bones and stone relics with earthen burial urns were abundant. This 

 single skull was found in good preservation, in a dry spot, and next rflay fortu- 

 nately the lower maxilla was discovered a few feet off. It belonged to an aged 

 man, and the hole in the right parietal bone indicates that it was caused by vio- 

 lence. A portion of the upper maxilla on each side is broken, as is the lower 

 part of the occipital bone, but the cranium is sufficiently perfect to present an ad- 

 mirable specimen of the aboriginal American, of the Toltecan variety of Dr. 

 Morton. In its dimensions, in some of them, it is larger than the fine cranium 

 (1512, Morton's Catalogue,) from Ohio. The elevation is about the same, but 

 the longitudinal and interparietal diameters, the intermastoid line, and the inter- 

 mastoid arch are greater. The frontal bone is more flattened, and the occiput 

 equally so the facial bones are well developed, and an important value is given 

 to the specimen by the ponderous lower jaw, which is wanting in that from Ohio. 

 A number of stone specimens were found at the same time mostly such as are 

 figured in the work of Squier and Davis, pp. 217 18 and 237. Several of these 

 are forwarded with the cranium as well as some long bones. 



1 take great pleasure in adding this skull to the Morton Collection of the Aca- 

 demy, and to congratulate our members on the possession of that noble monument 

 of its late lamented President his life-labor of love. It is a fortunate privilege 

 that I have in being able to make a contribution to it, in memory of one whose 

 loss has been so deeply felt by the scientific world." 



Dr. Wetherill exhibited two specimens of iron crystallized from 

 slags obtained from furnaces in this State : one of these presented a 

 decided octahedral form, and the other was dendritic. 



Dr. Wetherill also referred to a peculiar deposit which he had noticed 

 on pigs of iron. This deposit was in needle-shaped crystals with their 

 points next the metal, and their bases outwards, presenting a velvety ap- 

 pearance. It was evidently an aluminous mineral. 



Dr. Wetherill had also found at AUentown, Pennsylvania, the copper- 

 colored cubes of the so-called Titanium, consisting of the Cyanuret and 

 Nitruret of Titanium. 



Novemher Ibth. 



Vice-President Bridges in tbe Chair. 



Letters were read ' 



From Prof. Joseph Henry, dated Smithsonian Institution, Nov. 10th, 

 1853, acknowledging the receipt of late Nos. of the Proceedings. 



From Dr. J. J. Von Tschudi, dated Vienna, 20th April 1853, trans- 

 mitting a copy of his Memoir on the Peruvian Language. 



Mr. C. Girard presented a paper entitled ^' Researches upon Ncmer- 

 tians and Planarians,'' intended for publication in the Journal. Referred 

 to Dr. Ruschenberger, Dr. Goddard, and Dr. Brinton. 



