352 



December 16, 1863. 



The President in the chair. 



Dr, J, Wyman offered the following observations on the 

 skeleton of a Hottentot, some account of whom was given 

 at a former meeting (see Proceedings, April 2, 1862) : — 



The subject was nearly adult, the wisdom-teeth being fully mature. 

 All the long bones of the skeleton, however, showed incomplete ossifi- 

 cation, the epiphyses in many instances still remaining unattached. 

 Such was especially the case in the upper end of the humerus, tibia, 

 and fibula, and the lower ends of the ulna, radius, and femur ; or, in 

 other words, in the ends of the bones to which the nutritious artery 

 is not dii-ected. 



The individual was unusually tall for a Hottentot, and measured five 

 feet and five inches in height. A comparison of Hottentot and Bush- 

 man skeletons, and casts of bodies, contained In the museums of Lon- 

 don and Paris, give an average height of four feet and six Inches. 

 While the height of the body just equalled the distance between the 

 tips of the fingers, the arms being outspread, the legs were dispropor- 

 tionately long, so that the pubes was more than five inches above the 

 centre of the whole height. 



In the external configuration of the cranium proper, there was 

 nothing remarkable, except that the top was somewhat flattened, the 

 forehead narrow, sloping outwards and backwards from a somewhat 

 prominent ridge, corresponding with the obliterated frontal suture. 



When held at arm's-length, and viewed from above, the zygomatic 

 arches are just In sight ; but the fosste are nearly concealed. The meas- 

 urements show that the cranium Is not brachycephalic, as in the Mon- 

 golians, but decidedly elongated, as In the Negroes. 



The most striking features to be seen In the head are those found In 

 the bones of the face, especially in the nasals, maxillarles, and malars. 



The nasals are completely co-ossified with each other, no trace of a 

 suture remaining. This was the more noticeable, as the individual 

 was young, and the bones of the skeleton generally are immature ; 

 and has an Interest in connection with the fact that the nasal bones 

 are co-ossified at an early period In the monkeys, and before the com- 

 pletion of the first dentition In the Gorillas and Chimpanzees. These 

 bones In the Hottentot are remarkable for their great breadth, espe- 

 cially at the upper part, which Is the broadest jiortlon of them. They 

 do not recede from the outline of the frontal bone, which is continued, 

 without interruption, to the middle of the nose, where the bones pro- 

 ject very slightly forwai'ds. In a transverse direction, they are nearly 



