226 ETHNOLOGY. 



age and greatly decayed, (being equally defective as to the loss of the 

 Tij)per end,) from the various evidences presented by it apparently 

 belonged to a different individual. 



It is remarkable that so many of the humeri from this mound are 

 fractured at or toward the middle of the shaft, the proximal end being 

 wanting. An entire humerus is extremely rare, and the upper end is 

 seldom found. This cannot in ever^^ instance be due to decay. Such 

 cumulative testimony can hardly be relegated to the category of mere 

 coincidence or accident. But as to whether it may point to cannibal 

 pro[)ensities, or some superstitious rite or custom, perhaps connected 

 with the sepulture of the deceased, I am unable at present to determine. 



As 1 have elsewhere stated, " 1 also find in the Eouge Mound transi- 

 tional states, if 1 may so call them ; tliat is, instances in which the 

 communication between the fossfe is not quite completed, the dividing 

 wall being reduced in some cases to a very thin partition, almost trans- 

 parent. Even where the perforation is accomplished, there is a great 

 variation in the size. and shape of the aperture." I think I may safely 

 say that the more marked cases of the peculiarity are alfor<led by the 

 more ancient of the humeri ; while the instances in which the opening 

 is greatly reduced in size, or the partition separating the fossae is more or 

 less strongly defined, are witnessed chiefly in the more modern of the 

 bones; thus indicating the gradual elimination of a characteristic of, I 

 believe, unquestionably degraded affinities. 



It might be of importance could this singular characteristic be traced 

 to its origin. The predominance of tlie perforation (associated with 

 other degraded traits) in the chimpanzee and gorilla, as well as in the 

 lower races of mankind, would suggest, if not a common ancestry in 

 the remote past, at least some i)redisposing cause common to both the 

 ape and the savage, and this connected with the use of the arm. 



For example, man, in a barbarous state, has, as is well known, under 

 certain circumstances largely the habit of " going on all iburs." In the 

 adult of the higher races, this is never seen. (It is needless to refer to 

 the suggestiveness of the creeping propensity as displayed in the infant 

 offsi)ring of even civilized man.) The invention of various mechanical 

 a{)i)liances forbid, and cause to be abandoned forever, the grosser uses 

 to which this noble member of the body had been formerly applied ; 

 so that at length, with the ameliorating influences of civilization, a 

 more highly and finely educated hand and arm are produced, with cor- 

 responding development. 



But, perhaps, it may be considered that (without implying such were 

 wanting) it is unnecessary in this case to insist on any special cause or 

 causes; that the gradual disappearance of the peculiarity under con- 

 sideration is only part and i)arcel of the general grand evolution, that 

 moving onward and upward, in which, as the great poet of our day has 

 expressed it, we 



"Ltit the aj)e and tiger die." 



