ON SOME FOSSIL REMAINS OF MAN 299 



that the former takes us to, at least, the further side of the 

 vague biological limit, which separates the present geolo- 

 gical epoch from that which immediately preceded it. And 

 there can be no doubt that the physical geography of Europe 

 has changed wonderfully, since the bones of Men and Mam- 

 moths, Hyaenas and Rhinoceroses were washed pell-mell 

 into the cave of Engis. 



The skull from the cave of Engis was originally discovered 

 by Professor Schmerling, and was described by him, together 

 with other human remains disinterred at the same time, in 

 his valuable work, Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles 

 decouverts dans les cavernes de la Province de Liege, 

 published in 1833 (p. 59, et seq.), from which the following 

 paragraphs are extracted, the precise expressions of the 

 author being, as far as possible, preserved. 



" In the first place, I must remark that these human 

 remains, which are in my possession, are characterized, 

 like the thousands of bones which I have lately been dis- 

 interring, by the extent of the decomposition which they 

 have undergone, which is precisely the same as that of the 

 extinct species : all, with a few exceptions, are broken ; 

 some few are rounded, as is frequently found to be the 

 case in fossil remains of other species. The fractures are 

 vertical or oblique ; none of them are eroded ; their colour 

 does not differ from that of other fossil bones, and varies from 

 whitish yellow to blackish. All are lighter than recent bones, 

 with the exception of those which have a calcareous incrusta- 

 tion, and the cavities of which are filled with such matter. 



" The cranium which I have caused to be figured, Plate 

 I., Figs. 1, 2, is that of an old person. The sutures are 

 beginning to be effaced : all the facial bones are wanting, 

 and of the temporal bones only a fragment of that of the 

 right side is preserved. 



" The face and the base of the cranium had been detached 

 before the skull was deposited in the cave, for we were unable 

 to find those parts, though the whole cavern was regularly 

 searched. The cranium was met with at a depth of a metre 

 and a half [five feet nearly], hidden under an osseous breccia, 

 composed of the remains of small animals, and containing 

 one rhinoceros tusk, with several teeth of horses and of 

 ruminants. This breccia, which has been spoken of above 

 (p. 30), was a metre [3f feet about] wide, and rose to the 

 height of a metre and a half above the floor of the cavern, 

 to the walls of which it adhered strongly. 



