R ELI QUI A. 



an opportunity of Tneafunng as it lay on the ground, and geognoftic obfervaf ions 'in various parts of the world render 

 found It to be 4^ feet in length, and live inches in diameter probable, the creation of man mull have been pofterior to 

 at the large end ; it was found imprafticablc to remove that of tliofe genera and fpecies of mammalia which pe- 

 It, otherwifc than in fragments, which I have preferved, rifhed by a general cataclyfm, and whofe bonei are fj 

 and have hopes of being able to put a tonfiderable part thickly dilienimated in the mqre recent formations of rocks 

 of It together. The immciife fize of this horn is rendered " The liuman (keletmis from Guadaloupc are called Galibi 



more remarkable by another horn from the fame fpot, by the natives of that idand ; a name faid to have been that 

 wiiich mcafures but fix inches in length. Though this of an ancient tribe of Caribs of Guiana, but which, accord, 

 ftratum is fo extremely produftive of the remains of ani- ing to a plaufible conjedhire, originated in the fubllitutioii 

 iiials, yet there are but few good cabinet fpecimens from it, of the letter / inltead of r, in the word Caribbee. No men- 

 owing, it is prefunied, to their having been crulhed at the tion is made of them by any author except o-encral Ernouf' 

 time they were buried, and to the injury they have fmce in a letter to M. Fanias St. Fond, infcrted in vol. v. (180C) 

 received from moiiture. It is neceflary to remark, that of the Annales du Mufcum ; and by M. Lavaiffe, in his 

 the gravel-llones in this llratum do not appear to have been \''oyage a la Trinidad, &c. publilhcd in 1813. The former 

 rounded in the iifual way by attrition, and that the bones of thefe gentlemen writes, that, on that part of the wind- 

 mult have been depofited after the flcfli was off, becaufe, in ward fide of the Grande-Terre, called La Moule, flccletons 

 no inflance, have two bones been found together which were are found enveloped in what lie terms " iVIades de madrc- 

 jouied in the living animal ; and further, that the bones are pores petrifies," which being very hard, and fituated witliin 

 not in the leall worn, as mull have been the cafe had they the line of high water, einild not be worked without great 

 been expofed to the wafh of a fea-beach. difficulty, but that he expecled to fucceed in caufing feme 



"In the third ilratnm, vi-z. calcareous loam, hare been of thefe mades to be detached, the meafurements of which 

 found the horns, bones and teeth of the deer, the bones and he ftates to be about eiglit feet by two and a half 

 teeth of the ox, together with Inail-fli -lis, and tlie ihells of " The block brought home by fir Alexander Cochrane ex- 

 nver-filh. aftly anfwered this account with regard to the meafure- 



" Brentford, in the neighbourhood of which are the fields ments ; in thicknefs it was about a foot and a half. It 

 I have mentioned, is fituated on the north hank of the Thames, weighed nearly two tons; its fliape was irregular, approach- 

 and is fix miles well of London. ing to a flattened oval, with here and there fome concavities, 



" The fall of the Thames from Brentford to its mouth at the largefl of which, as it afterwards appeared, occupyino- the 

 the Nore, is eftimated at feven feet." place where the thigh-bone had been fituated, the lowcr^'part 



The next communication is in relation to a foflile human of which was tlierefore wanliu'-i-. Except the few holes 

 (keleton, found imbedded in lime-ltone lately brought from evidently made to afliil iu raifing the block, the mafons here 

 the ifland of Guadaloupe by the honourable fir Alexander declared, that there was no mark of a tool upon any part of 

 Cochrane, and prefented by the admiralty to the Britifii Mu- it ; and, indeed, the whoL- had very much the appearance of 

 feum. Of this highly curious fpecimen Mr. Konig has given a huge nodule difengagcd from a furroundino- mafs. 

 an account that, to naturahtls, will be regarded as highly " The fituation of the &eleton in the block was "fo fupcr. 



important and interelling. ficial, tliat its prefence in the rock on the coall had probably 



" Onthehiftory ofthe ftrata produced by the more recent been indicated by the projcdlion of fome of the more elevated 

 cataftrophes of the globe," fays Mr. Konig, " moll light parts of tiic left fore-arm. 



has been thrown by the indefatigable exertions of M. Cuvier. " Tlie Iknll is wanting ; a circumftance which is the more 



Superlatively llviiled in comparative anatomy, this gentleman to be regretted, as this characlerillic part mitrht pofiibly 

 has fucceeded in determining the foiflle bones of no lefs than ha«e thrown fome light on the fubjeft under confideration 

 78 fpecies, of which 49 are entirely unknown among the ex- or would, at leaft, £ive fettled the quellion, whether the 

 iiling races of animals; about 12 are identified with known fkeleton is that of a Carib, who ufed to give the frontal 

 fpecies, and the remainder ftrongly refemble exilling fpecies, bone of the head a particular ihape by comprellion ; which 

 although their identity lias not been completely afcertained. had the effeft of deprcfling the upper, and protruding the 

 From the multiplied obfervations which this uaturalill has lower edge of the orbits, fo as to make the direftion of their 

 communicated in his numerous memoirs, we may gather that opening nearly upwards, or horizontal, inllead of vertical, 

 the viviparous quadrupeds appear at a much later period in " The vertebra; of the neck were loft with the head. Tlie 



the foflile Hate than the oviparous ; the latter b.-ing pro- bones of the thorax bear all the marks of confiderable con- 

 bably coeval with the fiflics, whillt the former are found cufTion, and are completely dillocated. The feven true ribs 

 only in the neweft formations, in which, according to of the left fide, though their heads are not in connection 

 Brongniart and Cuvier's interefting difcovery, marine beds with the vertebra?, are complete ; but only three of the falfe 

 are obferved to alternate with thofe of frefli water, and whic'h ribs are obfervable. On the right fide only fragments of 

 (in the neighbourhood of Paris) overlay the coarfe fliell thefe bones are feen ; but the upper part of the feven true 

 limc-ttone, which conftitutes the lalt ftrata formed, as it ribs of this fide are found on the left, and mio-ht at firit fight 



be taken for the termination ofthe left ribs. ' The right ribs 

 muft, therefore, have been violently broken, and carried over 

 to tiie left fide, where, if this mode of viewing the fubjedi 

 be corredt, the fternum muft likewifc lie concealed below 



would appear, by a long and quiet ttay of tile fca on our 

 continent. 



" All the circumftances under which the known depofitions 

 of bones occur, both in alluvial beds and in the caverns and 



fifliires of flcctz lime-ltone, tend to prove, that the animals the termination of the ribs. The fmall bone dependent abo 



to which they belonged met their fate in the very pLices the upper ribs of tlie left fide, appears to be the rieht cla- 



where they now lie buried. Hence, it may be confidered as vide. The right os humeri is loft ; of the left nothinsr 



an axiom, that man, and other animals, whofe bones are not remains except the condyles in conneftion with the fore-arm 



found intermixed with them, did not co-exiil in time and which is in the ftate of pronation ; the radius of this fide 



place. The fame mode of reafoning would further juftify us in exifts nearly in its full length, while of the ulna the lower 



the conclufion,tiiat, if thole cataftrophes which overwhelmed part only remains, which is confiderably pulhed upwards. 



a great proportion of the brute creation were general, as Of the two bones of the right fore-arm, the inferior terminal 



5 tioDs 



