THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 5 



of great distinction, had precisely the same 

 conformation of the occiput. 



On the other hand, many supposed the 

 Neanderthal skull to be either that of an 

 intellectual ape of the highest order, or 

 else the veritable missing link for which 

 speculative savans have been so long search- 

 ing, and hitherto in vain. Dr. Bernard 

 Davis considered that " the form of the 

 Neanderthal skull was the result of a sy- 

 noptasis ; " * and as this then newly-coined 

 word technically means " ossification of 

 the sutures," being derived from the Greek 

 sun-ousia, which the lexicon describes 

 as " a meeting of friends," we may con- 

 clude that the skull acquired its ape- 

 like shape from its converse with such a 

 large family party as were gathered in the 

 scientific circle at Bonn. 



Suddenly a voice was heard issuing 

 from the interior of the skull, which 

 recalled to mind a tradition current in 

 medieval times respecting the skull of a 



* See Dr. Davis' Essay on the subject, in the first 

 volume of the Anthropological Review. 



