470 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 16, 



" I send you a fragment of a rib which I recently found at Ver, in 

 the department of the Seine et Oise, about nine leagues from Paris, 

 at the depth of three metres (nearly ten feet), in a kind of cleft filled 

 by the diluvial soil (le terrain diluvien), occurring with the sandstone 

 and sands belonging to the etage denominated les sables de Beau- 

 champ. It was associated with divers bones of the Stag and Horse, 

 and also of an animal no longer existing in the country, namely, the 

 Beaver. I have submitted this fragment to M. Lartet, with whose 

 profound scientific attainments you are well acquainted ; but he has 

 not been able to decide whether it belongs to a species of quadruped 

 still living, or to one now extinct. But he considers this small frag- 

 ment of a rib very interesting, from it's having at one extremity traces 

 of a rude operation of sawing, and presenting an appearance very 

 different from that which would be produced by a metallic blade or 

 by a saw. M. Lartet did not rest satisfied with a mere conjecture, 

 but ascertained by experiments on a fresh rib of an Ox that a me- 

 tallic blade produced a uniform and almost a smooth cut. Hence he 

 concludes that the rib in question had been sawn by a flint with a 

 jagged edge. Taking a splinter of flint with a chisel-edge from the 

 sands of Abbeville, he easily sawed a fresh rib, but always obtained 

 an uneven, irregular cut (des surfaces de resection avec reprises nom- 

 breuses), such as may be observed, on the specimen I send j^ou. There 

 is therefore every reason to believe that this rib had been sawn by 

 a flint, and it affords proof of Man having lived in France at the 

 same time as the Beaver, an animal no longer existing with us ; and 

 M. Lartet has thus supplied a new and elegant demonstration of the 

 contemporaneity of Man and quadrupeds during the period of the 

 Terrains diluviens." L. H. 



Subsequent addition by the President. 



The day after the above communication was read, on showing the 

 fragment of bone given to me by M. Delesse above referred to, it 

 was observed that it had a remarkably fresh appearance, that it did 

 not adhere (hopper) to the tongue as fossil bones usually do, and 

 that thus a doubt might exist as to its assumed antiqiuty. After 

 hearing this remark, I exposed a minute fragment to the flame of a 

 candle, when it gave out the odour of burnt animal matter; and on 

 immersing another fragment in hydrochloric acid, after effervescence, 

 a soft gelatinous substance, nearly the size of the original fragment, 

 was left. Knowing full well that M. Delesse and M. Lartet would 

 cordially agree on the importance of the most scrupulous investiga- 

 tion of every fact produced in evidence on this recently-agitated 

 question of the antiquity of Man, I communicated to both of them 

 what I have stated above respecting this bone. I received immedi- 

 ately answers from them ; and these, with their leave, I now give, 

 not only because of their confirmation of the opinions they formerly 

 expressed, but as containing some additional remarks of much 

 interest. 



