913 



of implantation : in short, there are none of the characteristics of a " Native of Van Diemen's 

 Land " (Osteological Catalogue, 1831, No. 95, p. 16). It may have been brought from that 

 country and have belonged to some settler, murdered and perhaps eaten by the natives. 



Presented by Thomas Hobbs Scott, Esq. 



5904. The skull of an English Child. 



The deciduous molars are not shed : the first true molar is in place in the upper jaw, and 

 both first and second are in place in the lower jaw. The upper canines, as well as premolars, 

 are still concealed in their formative alveoli. The basioccipital and exoccipitals, not having 

 coalesced with the superoccipital, have become detached and lost. This skull is chiefly re- 

 markable for the oblique unsymmetrical deformity of the cranium. 



Hunterian. 



Varieties of the Human Skeleton in regard to stature. 



5905. The skeleton of an Irishman of abnormal stature*. 



It measures eight feet, in a straight line from the vertex to the sole, and belonged to the 

 individual who was exhibited, under the name of O'Brian, or Byrne, as the ' Irish Giant.' 



The cranium presents the long and narrow form : it is proportionally much depressed, and 

 with a narrow, low, and retreating forehead ; the cavity for the brain not exceeding that of 

 a European of ordinary stature : but the upper, and especially the lower, jaws are powerfully 

 developed, the chin being very prominent. The malar bones are moderately prominent. The 

 bones of the rest of the skeleton are well proportioned to the extraordinary height of the in- 

 dividual, with the exception of the bones of the upper extremity, which are relatively shorter. 

 The humerus, which, in the adjoining skeleton, reaches to the labrum of the ilium, in the 

 present does not extend below the last pair of ribs. The metapophyses become distinct upon 

 the eleventh dorsal, and are continued, together with the anapophyses, upon the twelfth 



* The following record of the death of the individual to whom this skeleton belonged is extracted 

 from the 'Annual Register Chronicle,' June 1783, vol. xxvi. p. 209 : 



" In Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, aged only 22, Mr. Charles Byrne, the famous Irish Giant, 

 whose death is said to have been precipitated by excessive drinking, to which he was always addicted, 

 but more particularly since his late loss of almost all his property, which he had simply invested in a 

 single bank note of ^700. 



" Our philosophical readers may not be displeased to know, on the credit of an ingenious correspond- 

 ent who had opportunity of informing himself, that Mr. Byrne, in August 1/80, measured eight feet; 

 that in 1 782 he had gained two inches ; and after he was dead, he measured eight feet four inches. 



" Neither his father, mother, brother, nor any other person of his family, was of an extraordinary 

 size." 



It has been said, that in bis last moments he expressed an earnest desire that his ponderous remains 

 might be sunk out at sea ; but if such were his wish, it was never fulfilled, as Mr. Hunter obtained his 

 body before interment of any kind had taken place. 



6 A 



