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THE GEOLOGIST, 



supraeiliary development, and a flattening of the frontal bones, so as to form a 

 low type of cranial conformation, exhibiting somewhat an approximation to the 

 neo-ro races. The antiquity of these skulls is, however, of a far later date than 

 that of the deposition of the carved flints in the valley of the Somme ; and I 

 have myself observed several Briton and early Saxon skulls fully equal in point 

 of grade of development to the Greek or Caucasian skulls, idealized by Blu- 

 menbach as the summit of everything which could be predicated of virtue, 

 intelligence, and beauty. _ 



Prof. Owen has well pointed out the almost impossibility ot laying down 

 general rules respecting the skulls of the various races of mankind, and has 

 declared, " I believe it would be rash to pronounce on the negro nature of any 

 single skull, save among some of the lowest races of Western Africa." After 

 such an authoritative decision, I hope that those palaeontologists or geologists 

 who draw conclusions in favour of the " Negro " or " Caucasian " nature of the 

 skulls which they discover, will learn the lesson of caution, and give a more 

 accurate and intelligible description of any human skulls which may be here- 

 after discovered in a semi-fossilized state. 



The most important, because the most recent, and the most generally can- 

 vassed human relic is that which Dr. Schauffhausen, of Bonn, has recently 

 published, with remarks by Mr. George Busk, P.R.S., in the * Natural History 

 Review" for April 1861.' According to this statement "in the early part of 

 1857, a human skeleton was discovered in a limestone cave in the Neanderthal, 

 near Hochdal, between Diisseldorf and Elberfeld. The opinions of geologists 

 in Germany seem united to corroborate Mr. Busk's conclusion, that there can 

 be no doubt of the enormous antiquity of this skeleton (found under a deposit 

 of four or five feet of mud on the floor of the cave), and of the probability of 

 its having belonged to what has been termed the quaternary period. As, 

 however, I know of no English geologist who has stepped forward to corro- 

 borate this theory, I hope that some of the many and intelligent readers of the 

 " Geologist " may be led to consider the question. 



To the paleontologist this skull offers a source of interest, inasmuch as it 

 exhibits a singular character, hitherto supposed to have been peculiar to the 

 highest apes. All those persons who have seen the gorilla in the British 

 Museum, or who have read M. du Chaillu's descriptions of its habits, must 

 have been struck with the large and prominent supraeiliary ridge which makes 

 a development from the frontal bone, and which gives to the animal that pent- 

 house-like scowl over its eyes, and in which a crest of black prominent hairs 

 is inserted, which greatly contributes to enhance the terrific appearance of the 

 old male gorilla. This supraeiliary ridge is characteristic of the genus 

 Troglodytes ; and in the chimpanzee it is also present, but to a less extent than 

 in the gorilla. In this latter species a large amount of this elevation is due to 

 the development of the space called by anatomists frontal sinus, which is a 

 large cavity, divided into two portions by a perpendicular osseous partition, 

 ana 1 lined with a continuation of the pituitary membrane, secreting the lubri- 

 cating mucus discharged into the nose. This frontal sinus, Prof. Schauff- 

 haussen thinks, is the main cause of the production of the enormous supraeiliary 

 ridge in the Neanderthal cranuim, as it is in the gorilla. Mr. George Busk 

 dissents from this theory, and points out that in many recent crania of savage 

 and barbarous men a considerable frontal elevation exists, in which no extra- 

 ordinary expansion of the sinuses occur; and Sir William Hamilton (Meta- 

 physics, ii. p. 425, asserts, "it is an error of the grossest, that the extent of 

 the sinus is indicated by a ridge or crest, or blister in the external bony plate. 

 Sucn a protuberance has no certain, or even probable, relation to the "extent, 

 depi h, or even existence of any vaeinity beneath." In the Papuau and Austra- 

 lian races of men, which approach nearest to the ape in their cranial conforma- 



