NOTICE OF SOME FOSSIL HUMAN BONES. 



BY PROF. JOSEPH LEIDY. 



Science confirms the declaration of Ecclesiastes that " a man hath no pre- 

 eminence above a beast," and in our accepting the theory of animal evolution 

 we may reasonably look with confidence for the discovery of the "missing 

 link" connecting him with his immediate predecessor. In this view, all 

 remains of man coming in the category of fossils are examined with in- 

 terest. We have satisfactory evidence in fossil remains that man was 

 contemporaneous with many well-known and now extinct animals far back 

 in the quaternary period. The aboriginal man was probably as restricted in 

 his habitation as are now some of his nearest relatives, the orang and 

 gorilla ; and this may be a reason why his remains are so rare or absent 

 among those of his numerous cotemporaries of other .species and genera. 

 The nearer relation of man with the old- than with the new-world primates, 

 the many discoveries of prehistoric races in Europe and contiguous coun- 

 tries, and traditions together, render it probable that he had his origin in 

 the old world and migrated elsewhere. Hence early traces of man are 

 scarcely known in America. To be sure, instances of their occurrence have 

 been reported, but generally they have not been convincing and in most 

 cases are untrustworthy. 



In 1846, Dr. M. W. Dickeson exhibited to the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia a collection of fossil bones, obtained by him in the 

 vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi, among which was a human os innomina- 

 tum.* The collection of fossils, yet contained in the museum of the 

 Academy, are well preserved, firm in texture and stained chocolate-brown 

 from ferruginous infiltration. The fossils consi.st of a nearly entire skull 

 and other bones of Megalonyx Jcffcrsoni, teeth of Megaloiiyx dissiviUis and 

 Ereptodon prisms, bones of Mylodoii Harlani, bones and teeth of Mastodon 

 americaniis, and teeth of Eqiats major and of Bison latifroiis. The human 

 innominatum, somewhat mutilated, presents the same condition of preserva- 

 tion and color as the other fossils with which it was found associated. As 

 the specimen has been the subject of much curiosity, it is now represented 



* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1846, 107. 



