10 /:'. //. Sellards — Discor, ■/•>/ of Fossil llinmin Hamiins 



Analysis of Recent and Fossil Bones from Veeo, Florida. 



No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 



Specific gravity 2.0627 2.8357 2.0203 2.7505 



Moisture at LOO C 10.72 2.07 4.09 3.89 



Volatile matter 19.59 8.92 8.22 10.30 



Phosphoric acid, P 2 6 27.24 32.27 30.88 32.00 



Calcium oxide, .CaO 39.75 40.80 45.69 48.31 



Insoluble matter, silica, etc 0.60 1.11 3.61 1.39 



Iron and. aluminum oxides 0.13 3.71 1.85 0.76 



No. 1 -is from a recent human tibia taken from an Indian mound near 

 Vero. Fla. Surv. coll. No. 5537. No. 2 is from the right tibia of a man 

 taken in place in the Pleistocene bed at Vero. Fla. Surv. coll. No. 5200. 

 No. 3 is from the femur of Canis sp. from the stream bed at Vero. Fla. 

 Surv. coll. No. 5449. No. 4 is from the front part of the jaw of Megalonyx 

 jeffcrsonii, from Vero. Fla. Surv. coll. No. 4374. 



The specific gravity was obtained from the finely powdered 

 bone by the pyenometer method. The moisture, taken at 

 100° C, includes, as will be recognized, any other constituents 

 sufficiently unstable to be driven off at that temperature. 

 Volatile matter, likewise, represents the constituents driven 

 off when the sample is maintained at red heat in a muffle for 

 several hours, and necessarily includes carbon dioxide, and 

 possibly other constituents in addition to the organic matter. 

 The phosphoric acid, calcium oxide, and iron and aluminum 

 oxides were determined by standard methods. The analyses 

 show, as may be seen from the table, that the fossil human bones 

 are quite as well mineralized as are the associated bones of the 

 Pleistocene animals. 



Since the stratum holding the bones lies near the surface the 

 possibility of the human bones having been placed in it by 

 burial must be considered, although in case of a burial it seems 

 probable that more of the skeleton would have been found. 

 Since being dug the canal has gradually widened by the caving 

 of the banks, and at the place where the human fossil was 

 found the rock at the top of the section had broken from the 

 ledge and lay inclined on the canal bank, having moved some- 

 what from its original position. When in place, however, this 

 rock rested above the human bones. The sand in which the 

 bones were imbedded had not been disturbed. Moreover, the 

 human bones are thoroughly mineralized, and it is highly im- 

 probable that a recent skeleton, if placed in these beds, would 

 have become equally as well mineralized as the much older 

 Pleistocene bones. Without doubt the mineralization of the 

 bones is the result of the slow chemical changes by which bones 

 are altered while being fossilized, a process which at this 



