526 ME. E. T. NEWTON ON FOSSIL HUMAN EEMAINS [Aug. 1 895, 



was deposited an appearance of having been of greater depth than it 

 actually was. On the whole, he ventured to maintain an attitude 

 of doubt, and would await further evidence before absolutely- 

 accepting these human remains, however ancient, as being of neces- 

 sity contemporaneous with the beds in which they were found. 



Prof. Boyd Dawkins congratulated the Author on the manner in 

 which he had placed this discovery before the Society. He accepted 

 the views of Sir John Evans with regard to the absence of distinct 

 proof that the skeleton really belonged to the same age as the 

 Palaeolithic gravels. In his opinion the skeleton was probably the 

 result of interment in the Palaeolithic gravels at a later time. He 

 regretted that the skull had not been compared with Scandinavian 

 Long Barrow skulls. The race to which the skeleton belongs was 

 an open question, and the geological age was also not clearly proved. 

 They may safely be placed to a suspense account. 



Dr. Gaeson said that in his opinion the special characters shown 

 by this Galley Hill skeleton were : — the short stature, the very 

 dolichocephalic skull, the prominent glabella and supraciliary ridges 

 and the well-marked ridges of the skull generally, the absence of 

 prominence of chin, and the large size of the last lower molar tooth, 

 which was as large as, if not larger than, the first molar. The large 

 size of the head of the femur was also peculiar. He did not think 

 that the specimen showed any signs of pathological conditions being 

 present. Nor did he consider that this was a modern skeleton, neither 

 could he refer it to the Bronze or Bound Barrow races. Although the 

 dolichocephalic skull and short stature agreed with the Neolithic 

 race, yet the prominent brow-ridges were quite unlike. Moreover, 

 the last lower molar in the Neolithic skull was smaller than those in 

 front of it. Accepting the Spy, Neanderthal, and Naulette spe- 

 cimens as representatives of the Palaeolithic race, he was inclined to 

 think that the Galley Hill skeleton was most nearly related to that 

 race. The long form of the skull from Galley Hill, when seen from 

 above, did not agree with the Continental forms, and it would be 

 necessary to compare many skulls of the race in order to determine 

 whether this was more than an individual variation. 



Mr. W. J. Lewis Abboti pointed out that bones of the same 

 animal had often been found in juxtaposition. On one occasion he 

 had found at West Thurrock the greater part of a mammoth in 

 gravel, overlain by an intercalated sheet of clay. He had worked 

 the Galley Hill section, and had obtained from it numerous imple- 

 ments and flakes, some of which were so sharp as to suggest their 

 having been made on the actual spot. He had noticed here and 

 there thin lenticular patches of very tough clay. It was in all pro- 

 bability under a sheet of such impervious material as this that the 

 human remains had been preserved. 



Mr. J. Allen Beown congratulated the Society on the production 

 before it of the best authenticated record of the occurrence of human 

 remains in the higher river-drift that had yet been brought forward 

 in England. As to placing this discovery to a suspense account, 

 although great caution was necessary, he must add that they could 



