New Road at Piirley : Archceological and Ethnological. 27 



would have no action upon the bones ; that the rain would 

 dissolve all organic matter, and carry it away to the springs of 

 the Waudle in the form of harmless salts ; that the phosphate 

 of lime would alone remain ; that this salt makes up nearly two- 

 thirds of the bony tissue, and that it has not been acted upon by 

 the carbonic and nitric acids, which are the only acids which 

 would be likely to come into contact with it in the minute 

 quantities in which they exist in rain-water. The covering of 

 chalk above the bodies saved the bones from the action of these 

 acids, for their acidity was at once neutralized by the calcareous 

 earth. Those bones which had no chalk above them crumbled 

 away as soon as they were exposed to the air. This also 

 happened to the skeletons at Beddiugton ; they rapidly broke up 

 as soon as they were exposed to the air, and they could not be 

 preserved. 



The male skull is a fine specimen. The cranium is more 

 elongated than is generally found among people of the present 

 day. There is a considerable cerebellar development and a strong 

 supra-orbital expression. But what is most remarkable is the 

 condition of the teeth ; they are all sound, though very worn, 

 and the canines, which are often pointed, are in this case well 

 worn, and each in complete apposition with its fellow. It would 

 appear as if the habits of our predecessors were more frugivorous 

 than carnivorous in choosing their food. I have not found a 

 decayed tooth among any of them. The thigh-bone is a remark- 

 able one. Dr. Taylor, in his work on Forensic Medicine, gives 

 the average length of the femur or thigh-bone of men of 6 feet 

 in stature as 19|- inches. I think this must have been at least 

 21 inches. The height of this man, therefore, was probably 

 6 feet 5 inches, and he was also very muscular, as shown by the 

 distinct ridges upon the bones. I may mention, that a grave 

 upon Farthing Down, which was examined by the late Mr. J. 

 Flower, contained bones which Professor Kolleston concluded to 

 have been those of a man at least 6 feet 5 inches in stature. 

 Most of the graves which were opened by Mr. Flower on 

 Farthing Down were in Christian form, without ornaments, but 

 others were clearly Anglo-Saxon, with characteristic ornaments 

 and weapons. I have had the opinion of Professor Flower, of 

 the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, upon these 

 skulls, where I propose to consign them for safe keeping. 



On the hill to the south of Beggars Bush is Cane Hill. The 

 flint now shown was found there. It is a fine specimen of casts 

 of the L'Hoiui cretacea, and belongs to a genus of marine sponges. 

 They burrow into the shells of the oyster, or, as in this case, the 

 inoceramus, by means of spicules embedded on their surface. The 

 cavities left by them have been filled up by silica. There is only 

 one example in the British Museum which approaches to it, in 



