OPINION OF DR. MORTON. 



281 



nia Americana," which is acknowledged, in the an- 

 nual address of the president of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society of London, as " a welcome offer- 

 ing to the lovers of comparative physiology," this 

 gentleman, in a communication on that subject, for 

 which I here acknowledge my obligations, says that 

 this skeleton, dilapidated as it is, has afforded him 

 some valuable facts, and has been a subject of some 

 interesting reflections. 



The purport of his opinion is as follows : In the 

 first place, the needle did not deceive the Indian 

 who picked it up in the grave. The bones are 

 those of a female. Her height did not exceed five 

 feet three or four inches. The teeth are perfect, 

 and not. appreciably worn, while the epiphyses> 

 those infallible indications of the growing state, 

 have just become consolidated, and mark the com- 

 pletion of adult age. 



The bones of the hands and feet are remarkably 

 small and delicately proportioned, which observa- 

 tion applies also to the entire skeleton. The skull 

 was crushed into many pieces, but, by a cautious 

 manipulation, Doctor Morton succeeded in recon- 

 structing the posterior and lateral portions. The 

 occiput is remarkably flat and vertical, while the lat- 

 eral or parietal diameter measures no less than five 

 inches and eight tenths. 



i A chemical examination of some fragments of the 

 bones proves them to be almost destitute of animal 

 Vol. I— N n 



