1626 Quadrupeds, 



for so humble an aspirant after the knowledge of nature's works, as I, 

 venturing on its correction. 



I have already stated that the peduncles form the basis of the horns ; 

 that they are of one piece with the solid bony frontal ridge, and I may 

 just add, that around these peduncles, and at the side walls of the 

 skull, the bone is comparitively thin, and connected with the afore- 

 said ridge and peduncles, by sutures, or serrated joinings ; what then 

 is the inference to be drawn — inference, nay, such a word is too weak. 

 What is the self-evident conclusion — of course, that in the event of 

 sufficient force being applied to the horns, the consequence would be, 

 either their fracture at the thinest part of the beam, their separation 

 from the peduncles, the rupture of those processes, together with the 

 frontal ridge away from the skull, or the breaking up of the whole 

 head — but in no case could the effect of such violence be the produc- 

 tion of a small hole in the centre of the forehead. What, in Professor 

 Owen's assumed case, became of peduncles and ridge, and how came 

 it that the orbits and zygomata remained unfractured. 



Any of my readers who may feel sufficiently interested in this sub- 

 ject may call at Mr, Glennon's shop, No. 3, Suffolk-street, Dublin, 

 where they will be shown the heads both of the female and of the 

 male of the gigantic deer ; as, also, two male heads, to the horns of 

 which, force was applied, with a view of ascertaining the effect that 

 would be produced. In one instance the force had been applied to 

 the beam of the horns, and the consequence was their fracture where 

 they are united to the peduncles. In the other instance the force was 

 applied to the peduncles themselves, with a view to ascertain whe- 

 ther it was possible to wrench them and the ridge away from the fan, 

 the consequence was, that the skull was riven asunder, just as I have 

 described. Mr. Owen, while dilating so truthfully upon the strength 

 of this portion of the skull, seems quite to have forgotten that the same 

 strength which could so successfully bid defiance to the blows of the 

 butcher's hatchet, would as effectually resist any attempt to separate 

 it from the remainder of the skull without causing the rending and 

 separation of the entire structure. 



For the sake of Mr. Owen's reputation, it is to be regretted that he 

 should have put forward such preposterous assertions ; and it were 

 also no less desirable that he should have stated whether or not he 

 conceived the surface of the frontals, in these skulls, to display any 

 evidence of having had the great frontal ridge filed down, cleft away, 

 or removed from it in any oilier manner. I do not think that Mr. 

 Owen's assertions require any farther refutation; and I also dread 



