THE PALANTHROPIC AGE 53 



the oldest human inhabitants known in Western 

 Europe. They have been most carefully examined 

 by several competent anatomists and archaeologists, 

 and the results have been published with excellent 

 figures in the Reltquia Aquitanictz, where will also be 

 found details of their characters and accompaniments, 

 among which last were about three hundred small 

 shells of different species pierced for stringing or attach- 

 ment to garments. These men are, therefore, of the 

 utmost interest for our present purpose, and I shall 

 try so to divest the descriptions of anatomical details 

 as to give a clear notion of their character. The 

 doubts at one time cast on the age of these skeletons 

 have been removed by the discovery of others at 

 Laugerie Basse, Mentone, &c. They are no doubt 

 palanthropic, though not of the earliest part of the 

 period. The ' Old Man of Cro-magnon ' was of 

 great stature, being nearly six feet high. More than 

 this, his bones show that he was of the strongest and 

 most athletic muscular development ; and the bones 

 of the limbs have the peculiar form which is charac- 

 teristic of athletic men habituated to rough walking, 

 climbing, and running ; for this is, I believe, the real 

 meaning of the enormous strength of the thigh-bone 

 and the flattened condition of the leg in this and 

 other old skeletons. It occurs to some extent, 

 though much less than in this old man, in American 

 skeletons. His skull presents all the characters of 

 advanced age, though the teeth had been worn down 

 to the sockets without being lost ; which, again, is a 



