159 



resembles the Neanderthal form more closely than any of the 

 Australian skulls do, by the much more rapid retrocession 

 of the forehead. On the other hand, the Borreby skulls are 

 all somewhat broader, in proportion to their length, than the 

 Neanderthal skull, -while some attain that proportion of 

 breadth to length (80 : 100) which constitutes brachycephaly. 



In conclusion, I may say, that the fossil remains of Man 

 hitherto discovered do not seem to me to take us appreciably 

 nearer to that lower pithecoid form, by the modification of 

 which he has, probably, become what he is. And considering 

 what is now known of the most ancient Races of men ; seeing 

 that they fashioned flint axes and flint knives and bone- 

 skewers, of much the same pattern as those fabricated by the 

 lowest savages at the present day, and that we have every 

 reason to believe the habits and modes of living of such people 

 to have remained the same from the time of the Mammoth 

 and the tichorhine Rhinoceros till now, I do not know that 

 this result is other than might be expected. 



Where, then, must we look for primaeval Man? Was 

 the oldest Homo sapiens pliocene or miocene, or yet more 

 ancient ? In still older strata do the fossilized bones of an 

 Ape more anthropoid, or a Man more pithecoid, than any 

 yet known await the researches of some unborn paleon- 

 tologist ? 



Time will show. But, in the meanwhile, if any form of 

 the doctrine of progressive development is correct, we must 

 extend by long epochs the most liberal estimate that has yet 

 been made of the antiquity of Man. 



THE END. 



O. NORMAN', TRINTER, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN. 



