Description of the Skull, &fc. 361 



Art. XXI. — Description of the Skull of the Guadaloitpe Fossil 

 Human Skeleton ; hj 3 ajiIes Moultrie, M. D., Professor of 

 Physiology in the Medical College of the State of South Carolina : 

 ivith introductory remarks ; by C. U. Shepard, M. D. 



My attention was called during the last winter to some portions of 

 a human fossil in the museum of the Literary and Philosophical So- 

 ciety of South Carolina by Mr. John D. Legare, by whom I was 

 informed that they were brought from Gaudaloupe and were un- 

 doubted parts of the much valued skeleton in the British Museum, 

 of which so faithful a description was given by Mr. Konig in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for 1814, vol. civ. p. 101. Having re- 

 ceived from Mr. Konig many years since a sample of the block in 

 which the skeleton was imbedded, I was able on the first inspection 

 to satisfy myself, that a perfect identity subsisted between the enga- 

 ging rock in both instances ; and on recurring to the paper of Mr. 

 Konig, it appeared that the portions here existing are among those 

 in which the British sample is deficient, viz. the cranial bones and 

 the lower part of a tjiigh bone. It struck me as being an important 

 inquiry to ascertain if possible from an examination of the shape of 

 the skull, whether the received opinion respecting the Carib origin 

 of the individual were correct ; for although the determination of this 

 point, is not likely to carry back the antiquity of the specimen to 

 a very remote period, in opposition to the manifestly recent mineral 

 character of the rock in which it is found, still the result may give 

 it a more ancient date than has been attributed to it, and possibly 

 throw important light on the connection of American races hereto- 

 fore considered as distinct. I accordingly desired my colleagues. Dr. 

 Moultrie and Dr. Holbrook, to bestow upon the skull a careful 

 examination, with which request they were very ready to comply. 

 The result as drawn up for publication by the former gentleman, 

 constitutes the following paper. C. U. Shepard. 



Charleston, May 30th, 1837. 



These precious remains, were brought from Guadaloupe by 

 Mons. L'Herminiere, a naturalist, and placed (together with many 

 other specimens relating to natural history,) in the museum of the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina in August 

 1816, from whom it was purchased, (in common with his collection) 

 the succeeding November. They consist of five fragments of dif- 



VoL. XXXII.— No. 2. 46 



