280 Fossil Human Bones found in South America. 



of the head in the former species. In this point, the discov- 

 ered skulls not only accord with those of the American tribes, 

 but some of them are to such a degree pressed in, that the fore- 

 head almost entirely disappears. It is known that the human 

 figures which were sculptured upon the ancient Mexican monu- 

 ments, are of a wholly peculiar conformation, and that the cra- 

 nium retreating backwards, was made to disappear immediately 

 above the eyes. This anomaly, which in general is ascribed 

 either to an artificial disfiguring of the head, or to the taste of 

 the artists, thus receives a natural explanation, since it is proved, 

 that a race of men lived in these regions which possessed this 

 conformation of the head.* The skeletons found belonged to 

 both sexes, and were of ordinary size ; though two male skele- 

 tons showed a larger size. After these brief observations on the 

 corporeal constitution of the primitive inhabitants of Brazil, we 

 will also take into consideration their probable mental condition 

 and the degree of their cultivation. Since now it is proved, that 

 the development of the mental powers stands in direct relation 

 to that of the brain, it follows from the formation of the skulls 

 found, that the intellectual life of their possessors must have 

 played a very inferior part, and that their progress in arts and 

 crafts must have been, in the highest degree, meagre. This 

 inference is confirmed by the discovery of an utensil of the most 

 imperfect make, which lay buried alongside of the skeletons. It 

 was a semi-spherical hornstone of ten inches in circumference, 

 which was worn smooth on the flat side, and evidently must 

 have served to bruise seeds and other hard substances. As it 

 cannot be my object, on this occasion, to make a thorough expo- 

 sition of the present subject, a labor which I give over to abler 

 hands, I have merely to observe, farther, that I have found hu- 

 man fossil bones in two other caves also, which were almost 

 without any gelatinous part and therefore easily friable, and 

 showed a white fracture. Unfortunately, however, they did not 

 occur with other animal bones, so that the question of chief im- 

 portance, in respect to the longer existence of the human race on 

 this earth, remains still undecided." 



Bonn, on the Rhine, Sept. 14, 1842. 



* It is still probable, however, that this configuration of cranium was the result 

 of artificial causes. — Eds. Am. Jour. 



