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ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



and in the Neanderthal near Elberfeld, mnst have been extensively- 

 spread — being allied, as may be presumed from the form of the skull, 

 with the aboriginal populations of Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia. 

 Whilst at Schwaan the bones were deposited in a Germanic grave of 

 stone, and consequently are brought into relation with the historical 

 period, the bones from Plau, on the contrary, were merely laid in the 

 sand, together with implements of bone of the rudest kind. The Minsk 

 skull, in like manner, was found in the sand of an ancient river-bed. 

 But the human bones and cranium from the Neanderthal exceed all the 

 rest in those peculiarities of conformation which lead to the conclusion 

 of their belonging to a barbarous and savage race. Whether the cavern 

 in which they were found, unaccompanied with any trace of human 

 art, were the place of their interment, or whether, like the bones of ex- 

 tinct animals elsewhere, they had been washed into it, they may still 

 be regarded as the most ancient memorial of the early inhabitants of 

 Europe. 



Remarks. 



The fact of the geological antiquity of Man, or, to use other words, of 

 his having been cotemporary with extinct animals whose remains are 

 universally regarded by geologists as "fossil," has apparently been 

 fully established, though rather, perhaps, from the discovery of his works 

 than of his actual remains, under certain geological conditions. It has 

 become a matter, therefore, among others, of extreme interest to deter- 

 mine how far it may be possible, from the scanty remains of his bones 

 as yet discovered, to ascertain whether, and in what respects, the pris- 

 can race or races may have differed from those which at present inhabit 

 the earth. 



Although the materials as yet in our possession are far too scanty to 

 allow of any satisfactory solution of this difficult question, they are 

 sufficient, perhaps, to allow of its being entered upon. It is with this 

 view that we reproduce the interesting paper by Professor Schaaffhausen, 

 which incidentally treats upon the question at large, and contains a 

 considerable amount of information respecting it. 



The human remains there described were discovered under circum- 

 stances which, though not altogether demonstrative of their real geolo- 

 gical position, leave no doubt of their enormous antiquity, and of the 

 probability of their having belonged to what has been termed the qua- 

 ternary period. The conformation of the cranium, moreover, in this 

 instance is so remarkable, as justly to excite the utmost interest, ap- 

 proaching as it does in one respect that of some of the higher apes. It 

 remains, consequently, a subject of the deepest importance for future 

 discoveries to determine whether the conformation in question be 

 merely an individual peculiarity, or a typical character. The pecu- 

 liarity consists in a remarkable prominence or projection of the super- 

 ciliary region of the forehead ; for the enlargement in this part is so 



