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that this shortening, as well as the attenuation of the left 
humerus, are both consequent upon the pathological con- 
dition above described. 
4. A left ilium, almost perfect, and belonging to the femur; 
a fragment of the right scapula; the anterior extremity of a 
rib of the right side; and the same part of a rib of the left 
side; the hinder part of a rib of the right side; and, lastly, 
two hinder portions and one middle portion of ribs, which, 
from their unusually rounded shape, and abrupt curvature, 
more resemble the ribs of a carnivorous animal than those 
of a man. Dr. H. v. Meyer, however, to whose judgment 
I defer, will not venture to declare them to be ribs of any 
animal; and it only remains to suppose that this abnormal 
condition has arisen from an unusually powerful development 
of the thoracic muscles. 
The bones adhere strongly to the tongue, although, as 
proved by the use of hydrochloric acid, the greater part of 
the cartilage is still retained in them, which appears, however, 
to have undergone that transformation into gelatine which 
has been observed by v. Bibra in fossil bones. The surface 
of all the bones is in many spots covered with minute black 
specks, which, more especially under a lens, are seen to be 
formed of very delicate dendrites. These deposits, which were 
first observed on the bones by Dr. Mayer, are most distinct 
on the inner surface of the cranial bones. They consist of a 
ferruginous compound, and, from their black colour, may be 
supposed to contain manganese. Similar dendritic formations 
also occur, not unfrequently, on laminated rocks, and are 
usually found in minute fissures and cracks. At the meeting 
of the Lower Rhine Society at Bonn, on the Ist April, 1857, 
Prof. Mayer stated that he had noticed in the museum of 
Poppelsdorf similar dendritic crystallizations on several fossil 
bones of animals, and particularly on those of Ursus speleus, 
but still more abundantly and beautifully displayed on the 
fossil bones and teeth of Equus adamiticus, Elephas primige- 
nius, &c., from the caves of Bolve and Sundwig. Faint 
