HRDLifKA] SKELETAL EEMAINS OE EARLY MAN 159 



plainly that they were very ancient. Laid on glowing coals, they 

 exhale no empyreumatic odor; they adhere strongly to the tongue, 

 treated with dilute nitric acid, they dissolve completely and rapidly 

 with a violent effervescence. They are therefore wholly calcareous, 

 that is in part petrified, offering thus all the characteristics of true 

 fossil bones." 



Having expressed himself on this part of the question, I^und pro- 

 ceeds to the examination of the bones from the zoologic standpoint, 

 with the result that some of them are found to belong to species still 

 living, while others belonged to animals which have already ceased 

 to exist in that locality. Among the latter specimens were some 

 bones of the llama, but great surprise was occasioned by the pres- 

 ence also of some bones of a horse. These did not belong to either 

 of the two species of fossil horses known in the country, but "indi- 

 cated a different species, so nearly similar to the domestic horse 

 that no characteristics could be found in the fragments to distinguish 

 them therefrom, though their proportions were notably superior to 

 those of the races of the horse introduced into South America by 

 the conquerors. 



''In view of the facts to which I have here referred, there can then 

 remain no doubt as to the existence of man on this continent in an 

 epoch anterior to that in wliich the last races of the gigantic animals 

 whose remains abound in the caves of this country became extinct, 

 or, in other terms, as to his existence here anterior to the historic 

 period. ['] 



"As to the ethnographic peculiarities of the skulls from this 

 deposit, I had occasion to confirm my former conclusions, namely, 

 that they offer all the characteristic features of the x'^.merican race; 

 and I have also firmly convinced myself that the extraordinary 

 depression of the forehead which is observed in some of the individ- 

 uals, is not artificial. 



"We see thus that America was already peopled before the first 

 rays of history appeared on the horizon of the Old World, and that the 

 people who inhabited it in those remote times were of the same race 

 as that found here at the time of discovery." 



In the subsequent paragraphs of his letter, Lund indulges in some 

 speculations and gives interpretations of certain features consequent 

 on the wearing down in the human skulls of the front teeth; these 

 views are, however, in the light of present knowledge on the sub- 

 jects, plainly erroneous. 



The final, and in some respects the most important, communication 

 of Lund on the subject of the Lagoa Santa human remains is con- 

 tained in a long letter addressed by him, in March, 1844, to C. C. 



1 By this Lund doubtless means the historic period of manidnd in general as then known. — A. H. 



