Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 543 



the American race. And it is known, says the Doctor, in continua- 

 tion, that the race which approximates nearest to this is the Mon- 

 golian ; and the most distinctive and salient character by which we 

 distinguish between them, is by the greater depression of the fore- 

 head of the former. In this point of organization, these ancient 

 crania show not only the peculiarity of the American race, but this 

 peculiarity, in many instances, in an excessive degree, even to the 

 entire disappearance of the forehead. We must allow, then, that 

 the people who occupied this country in those remote times, were of 

 the same race as those who inhabited it at the time of the conquest. 

 We know that the human figures found sculptured in the ancient 

 monuments of Mexico represent, for the greater part, a singular 

 conformation of head, — being entirely without forehead, — the cra- 

 nium retreating backward immediately above the superciliary arch. 

 This anomaly, which is generally attributed to an artificial disfigu- 

 ration of the head, or the taste of the artist, now admits a more na- 

 tural explanation ; it being now proved, by these authentic docu- 

 ments, that there really existed on this continent a race exhibiting 

 this anomalous conformation. The skeletons, which were of both 

 sexes, were of the ordinary height, although two of the men were 

 above the common stature. These heads, according to the received 

 opinions in craniology, could not have occupied a high position in 

 intellectual standing. This opinion is corroborated by finding an 

 instrument of imperfect construction joined with the skeletons. 

 This instrument is simply a smooth stone, of about ten inches in 

 circumference, evidently intended to bruise seeds or hard sub- 

 stances. 



In other caverns he has found other human bones, which show 

 equally the characteristics of fossils, being deprived of all the gela- 

 tinous parts, and consequently very brittle and porous in the fracture. 

 They were, unfortunately, unaccompanied by the bones of any other 

 animals, so that the principal point of the question remains unde- 

 cided ; although they go to prove the antiquity and prolonged exist- 

 ence of the human race on this continent. 



The above then, my dear Sir, is a brief synopsis of Dr. Lund's 

 letter, which may, perhaps, have already reached you by way of 

 Europe ; but of this I am not assured, and have determined to send 

 it. 



Having given you the general features of this letter, it would be 

 presumptuous in me to hazard any remarks to one so skilled in 

 anthropology ; and I would only suggest, that fossil remains are 

 not confined to Minas Geraes, but are also found in the western 

 part of this province, and in Bahia. 



Near the city of Rio de Janeiro of course nothing of the kind has 

 been discovered, as the formation is entirely granitic ; but from the 

 point where the calcareous rocks commence, (about ninety miles in- 

 land, near Canto Gallo,) I am informed that fossils are abundant. 



