THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL 575 
remains, which their possessor, Professor Fuhlrott of Elberfeld, per- 
mitted me to examine soon after their discovery. 
“Professsor Huxley namely affirms that the fossil skull of the cave 
in the valley of the Diissel, is, among all skulls, admittedly belonging 
to an epoch anterior! to the present, the most ape-like (2). Along 
with and in demonstration of this proposition, he speaks of a short 
sagittal suture, which, however, is no longer present, either externally 
or internally, and considering the dolichocephalic form of the skull 
must at a previous period certainly have been long(*); and further of 
a want of space for the posterior lobes of the cerebrum, although the 
calvaria exhibits a not inconsiderable arching of the upper part of the 
squama occipitis.(*) According to this, a homo pithecdides formerly 
dwelt in this rock cavern (known as the lesser “ Feldhofgrotte”) as a 
Troglodytes (°)! ? 
“But J leave these conclusions aside, &c.’—pp. 1 and 2. 
I propose to comment upon the passages I have numbered 
sertaliit :— 
(1)—It is by no means true that the English naturalists have based 
their statements upon Professor Schaafhausen’s figures ; for, as I have 
on two occasions publicly stated, Dr. Fuhlrott has been good enough 
to furnish us with both photographs and casts of the skull. (See 
“ Lyell’s Antiquity of Man,” p. 82. “ Man’s Place in Nature,” p. 141.) 
(2)—I have given no opinion, nor to the best of my knowledge 
has any English anatomist, respecting the geological age of the 
Neanderthal skull, or any other, but have assumed the justice of Sir 
Charles Lyell’s conclusions on that head. What I have affirmed, and 
still affirm, is, that the skull is the most ape-like human cranium I 
have ever seen, irrespective of any question as to its age. 
(3)—Seeing that, according to Professor Mayer’s own statement, 
both the coronal and lambdoidal sutures are present, it is not a 
matter of the smallest importance, in estimating the length of the 
sagittal suture, whether it is now discernible or not ; since that suture 
could not be longer or shorter than the distance between the median 
portion of the coronal, and that of the lambdoidal suture, which, as I 
have already said, is only 43 inches. But, if the original skull really 
exhibits no remains of the sagittal suture, all I can say is that Dr. 
Fuhlrott’s cast, which lies before me, is very deceptive ; as it shows 
what are, to all appearance, very distinct traces of that suture ; though 
“Unter allen bis jetzt als vorweltlich erkannten Schadeln am ahnlichsten sei.” I am 
acquainted with no exact English equivalent for * Vorweltlich Pe Antediluvian ” and 
“ Preadamite” used to serve that purpose ; but recent discussions render it inexpedient to 
make unguarded implications respecting either Adam or the Deluge. 
