108 REPORT — 1871. 



former tlian tlie latter. As anosmia was a state iu -u-liicli there was a deficiency in 

 the oxide of iron iu the blood, he was led to examine chemically the relative com- 

 position of wheat grown upon a soil of Cheshire sandstone, carhouiferous lime- 

 stone, millstone giit, and a transition soil between the Cheshire sandstone and the 

 grit ; and the analysis showed that wheat grown upon Cheshire sandstone yielded 

 the largest quantity of ash, and that it contained a much larger quantity of phos- 

 phoric acid and oxide of iron than that gi-own upon the other formations. He cal- 

 cidated that a dweller on the Cheshire sandstone who consumed 1 lb. of wheat 

 daily, grown upon the latter formation, took in nearly live grains more per day of 

 oxide of iron than one who dwelt on the Carboniferous system who did the same. 

 The analysis showed also that the wheat growu upon the Carboniferous system was 

 deficient in phosphates or nutritive salts ; and one who consumed a pound of 

 Cheshire wheat per day took in nine grains more of phosphoric acid than one who 

 took one pound of wheat gro-s\Ti upon the Carboniferous system. He had endea- 

 voured to ascertain whether the bread of those who dwelt upon the two sj'stoms 

 was relatively as deficient in these important nutriti\e elements as the wheat 

 grown upon them. He had collected twenty samples of bread used by twenty dif- 

 ferent families living upon each system, and analysis aftbrded results as conclusive 

 as the examination of the wheat. The deficiency of the nutritive salts iu the bread 

 compared with those in the wheat was very remarkable ; and it was no doubt 

 owiug to the removal of the bran from the flour with which the bread was made. 

 The •s\Titer then gave some statistics as to the diseases prevalent iu the counties of 

 Chester, Flint, and Denbigh, and stated that the practical deductions to be di'a-w-n 

 from the inquiry were, that all young persons living on a Cai-bouiferous formation 

 having SA'mptoms of iucipient goitre and antemia, ought to be moved to a soil upon 

 Red Sandstone, and persons of strumous habit ought to reside upon sandstone at 

 an elevation of at least 800 or 1000 feet above the sea ; and that both classes of 

 persons should live upon food, both animal aud farinaceous, which contained the 

 maximum quantity of oxide of iron and the phosphates or nutritive salts. Medi- 

 cal men could not too much impress upon the minds of the public the importance 

 of using flour made from the whole of the wheat; or " whole gi-ain."' 



On the Systematic Position of Sivatherium gigantcum, Faulc. and C'aut*. 

 By Dr. James Mtjeie, F.G.S., F.L.S., ^c. 



Among the fossil fauna discovered in the Sewalik Hills, the Sivatherium, one of 

 these, as attested by its remains, must have attained the size of a full-grown ele- 

 phant. It appears, however, to have been a ruminant, iu some respects Deer- 

 like, in others more resembling the Antelope. Still stranger, it seems to have 

 had some characteristic features of Pachyderms — the Tapir, for example. After a 

 careful review of the statements and deductions that have been made upon the 

 Sivcttheriiim, the author went on to show tliat it belonged to those radical forms 

 which by some may be regarded as one of the progenitors of diverse herbivorous 

 groups. The fossil bones studied by him are those contained in the British 

 Museum. There is also a remarkable fragment in the Edinburgh University 

 Museum. The points which he regarded as aflbrding a safe basis of the affinities 

 of this curious animal are : — 1. The form and structure of the horns; 2. the shape 

 of the bones of the face ; 3. the nature of the teeth ; 4. the formation of the 

 basis of the skull ; and 5. other peculiarities of the neck, chest, and limb-bones. 

 The Sivatherimn, according to him, is unlike all other living- ruminants but one, 

 the Prongbuck, from the fact of its having had hollow horns, evidently subject to 

 shedding. It differs thus from Deer, whose solid liorns anuuallj' drop off, and from 

 the Antelope tribe. Sheep, and Oxen, whose hollow horns are persistent. Save 

 one living form, the Saiga, no recent ruminant possesses, as did the Sivatherium, a 

 muzzle resembling in several ways the proboscis of the Tapirs and Elephants. 

 The dentition partook of the characters of the ancient Elasmothcriuin, &c. The 



* This paper has been published in extcnso in the Geol. Mag., October 1871, accom- 

 panied by two double plates of the restoration of the skeleton and a representation of 

 the animal, <? , $ djuv. Therein references to the several authorities &c. will be found. 



