ON SOME FOSSIL REMAINS OF MAN 303 



* very hasty one) paid to the collection of Professor 

 ' Schermidt ' (which is presumably a misprint for Schmef- 

 ling) at Liege. The writer briefly criticises the drawings 

 which illustrate Schmerling's work, and affirms that the 

 " human cranium is a little longer than it is represented " 

 in Schmerling's figure. The only other remark worth 

 quoting is this: "The aspect of the human bones differs 

 little from that of the cave bones, with which we are 

 familiar, and of which there is a considerable collection 

 in the same place. With respect to their special forms, 

 compared with those of the varieties of recent human 

 crania, few certain conclusions can be put forward ; for 

 much greater differences exist between the different speci- 

 mens of well-characterized varieties, than between the 

 fossil cranium of Liege and that of one of those varieties 

 selected as a term of comparison/' 



Geoffroy St. Hilaire's remarks are, it will be observed, 

 little but an echo of the philosophic doubts of the describer 

 and discoverer of the remains. As to the critique upon 

 Schmerling's figures, I find that the side view given by 

 the latter is really about &ths of an inch shorter than the 

 original, and that the front view is diminished to about the 

 same extent. Otherwise the representation is not, in any 

 way, inaccurate, but corresponds very well with the cast 

 which is in my possession. 



A piece of the occipital bone, which Schmerling seems 

 to have missed, has since been fitted on to the rest of 

 the cranium by an accomplished anatomist, Dr. Spring, 

 of Liege, under whose direction an excellent plaster cast 

 was made for Sir Charles Lyell. It is upon and from a 

 duplicate of that cast that my own observations and the 

 accompanying figures, the outlines of which are copied 

 from very accurate Camera lucida drawings, by my friend 

 Mr. Busk, reduced to one-half of the natural size, are made. 



As Professor Schmerling observes, the base of the skull 

 is destroyed, and the facial bones are entirely absent ; 

 but the roof of the cranium, consisting of the frontal, 

 parietal, and the greater part of the occipital bones, as 

 far as the middle of the occipital foramen, is entire or 

 nearly so. The left temporal bone is wanting. Of the 

 right temporal, the parts in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the auditory foramen, the mastoid process, and a con- 

 siderable portion of the squamous element of the temporal 

 are well preserved (Fig. 22). 



