198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



of Bonn had acquired a number of bones of Pleistocene mamnials, some of 

 which exhibited interesting lesions. Von Walther published his memoir in 1825, 

 and was much impressed by the undoubted evidences of disease, thousands of 

 years old, which he very carefully described. His interpretations of these 

 remains were confirmed seventy years later by the eminent pathologist, 

 Rudolph Virchow. 



Ten years later (1835) the subject was further advanced by P. C. Schmer- 

 ling, a Belgian paleontologist, who wrote and illustrated the finest memoir 

 thus far produced relating to paleopathology. His material was chiefly 

 Pleistocene mammals. A physician, Mayer, in 1854 produced the next im- 

 portant contribution, in which he reviewed all the preexisting literature. His 

 results were accompanied by fine lithographic plates. The studies of Virchow 

 in 1870 and later in 1895 were likewise devoted to remains of Pleistocene 

 mammals. 



So far, the literature of paleopathology was of European origin entirely. 

 Except for incidental references to pathological conditions by Leidy, Osborn, 

 Hatcher, Volz, Schlosser, "VVieland, Lull, Gilmore, and others, no definite 

 attempt was made to advance the science of paleopathology of extinct animals 

 until 1912, when Abel reviewed the whole field in his work on Paleobiologie. 

 Abel deserves the credit of perceiving a new field of work on the pathology 

 of vertebrate fossils — a field which had already been cultivated in America 

 among the invertebrates by Clarke. 



In 1913 the entire subject received the impetus of Ruffers' genius. He saw 

 the whole field as one, and combined for the first time observations on ancient 

 man, as seen in the Egyptian mummies, and extinct animals. The field of 

 study involved in the subject of paleopathology thus includes the Paleozoic 

 invertebrates, among which disease may have had its inception, the fossil 

 vertebrates, and ancient man. To these interesting fields of observation 

 Sudhoff of Germany and Escomel of Peru have recently added observations 

 on ancient surgical instruments, which have been recently shown to be the 

 cause of certain types of ancient pathology. The subject thus merges with 

 the history of medicine. 



The Secretary then presented the following paper for the author and 

 called attention to the algal nature of a specimen of the much-discussed 

 fossil Oldhamia which was exhibited. 



OLDHAMIA IX THE LOWER CAMBRIAN OF MASSACHUSETTS 



BY 15. F. HOWELL 



(Abstract) 



Specimens, apparently referable to the much-discussed and variable Irish 

 fossil, Oldhamia (Murchisonites) antiqua (Forbes), have recently been col- 

 lected from the purple shales of one of the well known Lower Cambrian 

 exposures of Pearl Street, Weymouth, Massachusetts, by Mr. Stinson Lord, 

 of Quincy, who has presented them to the Paleontological Museum of Prince- 

 ton University. They are well preserved and seem almost certainly to be 

 referable to some form of alga, and not to be mere inorganic markings. This 



