160 HUMAN FOSSILS. in 



published in 1833 (p. 59, et seq.), from which the 

 following paragraphs are extracted, the precise ex- 

 pressions of the author being, as far as possible, 

 preserved. 



" In the first place, I must remark that these human 

 remains, which are in my possession, are characterised, 

 like the thousands of bones which I have lately been dis- 

 interring, by the extent of the decomposition which they 

 have undergone, which is precisely the same as that of the 

 extinct species: all, with a few exceptions, are broken; 

 some few are rounded, as is frequently found to be the 

 case in fossil remains of other species. The fractures are 

 vertical or oblique ; none of them are eroded ; their colour 

 does not differ from that of other fossil bones, and varies 

 from whitish yellow to blackish. All are lighter than re- 

 cent bones, with the exception of those which have a cal- 

 careous incrustation, and the cavities of which are filled 

 with such matter. 



" The cranium which I have caused to be figured, Plate 

 I, figs. 1, 2, is that of an old person. The sutures are be- 

 ginning to be effaced: all the facial bones are wanting, 

 and of the temporal bones only a fragment of that of 

 the right side is preserved. 



" The face and the base of the cranium had been de- 

 tached before the skull was deposited in the cave, for we 

 were unable to find those parts, though the whole cavern 

 was regularly searched. The cranium was met with at a 

 depth of a metre and a half [five feet nearly] hidden 

 under an osseous breccia, composed of the remains of 

 small animals, and containing one rhinoceros' tusk, with 

 several teeth of horses and of ruminants. This breccia, 

 which has been spoken of above (p. 31), was a metre [3£ 

 feet about] wide, and rose to the height of a metre and a 

 half above the floor of the cavern, to the walls of which it 

 adhered strongly. 



