142 FOSSIL REMAINS OF MAN. 



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 ani- 

 mals, 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 [3J 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 ad- 

 hered strongly. 



The earth which contained this human skull exhibited 

 no trace of disturbance : teeth of rhinoceros, horse, hyae- 

 na, and bear, surrounded it on all sides. 



The famous Blumenbach* has directed attention to 

 the differences presented by the form and the dimensions 

 of human crauia of different races. This important work 

 would have assisted us greatly, if the face, a part essential 

 for the determination of race, with more or less accuracy, 

 had not been wanting in our fossil cranium. 



We are convinced that even if the skull had been com- 

 plete, it would not have been possible to pronounce, with 

 certainty, upon a single specimen ; for individual varia- 

 tions are so' numerous in the crania of one and ther same 

 race, that one cannot, without laying oneself open to large 

 chances of error, draw any inference from a single frag- 



* Decas Collectionis suee craniorum diversarum gentium illustrata. Got- 

 tingse, 1*790-1820. 



