1884.] . Anthropology. t175 
late M. Paul Broca, whose recent death, shortly after his election 
as a life senator of France, is so great a loss to science and espe- 
cially to anthropology, the illustrious savant coincides with my 
opinion, long previously expressed, as to the Neolithic trepanning 
found in the caves of France having no connection with the cran- 
the publication of my discoveries, having made some slight 
changes and additions, rendered necessary by my fuller informa- 
tion and the acquisition of new material, L here append for the 
benefit of those who may not have access to my papers on the 
subject : 
Of the Neolithic perforations of France-—t. Some are surgical, 
others were made after deat 
2. Both sexes and all ages, including infants and children, were 
subjects. 
3. They are from three to five centimeters in length on the 
head of adults, with very oblique and cicatrized edges. 
4. The position is variable. 
5. The posthumous were made by the aid of an instrument 
moved like a saw, detaching the fragment, &c. i 
6. Object of the posthumous: To secure the fragments, which 
were used for amulets i 
Of the perforations in the ancient crania of Michigan—t. All 
Were made after death. 
oe They are confined to adult subjects, and probably the male 
£ 
„3. They are generally from about one to two centimeters’ in 
diameter, with oblique but not cicatrized edges. 
4. The position is constant—centrally placed 
head, and always on the sagittal suture, or at its junc 
Coronal suture. : 
„5 They were made probably with an instrument turning prin- 
pally semicircularly. 
at the top of the 
ture with the 
‘ae Diri e aa. ae ee oe Es whee 1M 
6. Object unknown (perhaps the extraction of the brain, per- ' 
‘aps the suspension of the head). 
Sary is a name that the parts remove 
at even they were cut out entire. erican 
It is ataki that, so far, the discovery of the Ameri 
perforations has been confined, perhaps with a single exception, 
tothe mounds in Michigan. It seems probable, however, th 
Proper researches would reveal similar relics from mounds on the 
Canada shores of the Detroit river and Lake Huron. | jon of 
Those who may be interested in a more extended nan ps m 
this interesting custom, I refer to the following mentioned ol my 
d were preserved, 
: third of 
an ~ Smallest of the perforations which I have as yet seen 15 parser eight- 
tenpo it diameter; the largest, of elliptical form, has the major 
of an inch. — Z. G. 
