326 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



plications have been made, and large sums of money offered 

 by foreign societies for this collection ; but Mr. Latimer de- 

 clined to give any indication as to its proposed destination, 

 and not until after his decease, in November last, was it as- 

 certained that he had left it to the National Museum. The 

 collection filled twenty-six boxes and barrels. It was care- 

 fully packed by the executors, and transmitted to Wash- 

 ington. 



THE LOWEST OF KNOWN HUMAN FOEMS. 



The lowest of known human forms is represented by a 

 lower jaw discovered several years ago in a cave near Nau- 

 lette, Belgium. It possesses the massive form characteristic 

 of monkeys, and, like those animals, has large canine teeth 

 and little or no chin. There is, on the other hand, no inter- 

 ruption in the dental series, thus resembling man. It was 

 for some time denied that this jaw is human, but it is now 

 fully admitted to be such. Unfortunately the remainder of 

 the skull is unknown. Subsequently a portion of a cranium, 

 with other bones of man, were discovered in a volcanic de- 

 posit near Denise, near Puy-en-Velay, which were thought to 

 indicate an inferior type, and one contemporary with the ac- 

 tivity of the volcanoes of that region. When the French 

 Scientific Congress met at Puy, these remains elicited much 

 discussion, and their antiquity was denied. Specimens of 

 different form and character were produced which were im- 

 bedded in the same material, but were apparently modern. 

 Recently Dr. Sauvage has given the subject a thorough ex- 

 amination. He finds that the last-mentioned specimens are 

 of doubtful authenticity, and may have been manufactured. 

 The original ones he believes to have been buried in a vol- 

 canic eruption, and to represent a race contemporary with 

 the activity of the volcanoes. The cranium is of the same 

 low type as the race represented by the Neanderthal and 

 Cannstatt skulls, having thick walls, a retreating forehead, 

 and huge superciliary arches. 



STONE KNIVES WITH HANDLES, FROM THE PAI-UTES. 



Among objects of interest lately received at the National 

 Museum in Washington are thirty-six stone knives, with 

 handles, obtained by Major Powell from the Pai-Utcs. The 



