36 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



sand and silt, the workmen exhumed a human skull and a quan- 

 tity of bones, some undoubtedly human, and others belonging to the 

 lower animals. The human skull, according to its phrenological de- 

 velopment, seems to indicate a low intellectual capacity, the forehead 

 being low, and the circumference under the average standard. There 



is also a fragment of a skull which 

 seems to have belonged to a toler- 

 ably large animal, as it measures 

 three and a quarter inches from the 

 medial line to the outside beside 

 the ear, giving a breadth of six and 

 a half inches for the whole skull ; 

 then if the integuments, hair, etc. 

 be added, we should have a physio- 

 gnomy little short of nine inches 

 wide, and this creature may have 

 been that of one of the principal 

 tenants of the cave, and which pro- 

 bably devoured the ethers. Inter- 

 mixed with the rem^ains are very 

 small pieces of bone, etc., partially 

 cemented together by calcareous 

 matter, and occurring in patches r.t 

 different places ; these have the appearance of coprolites. The bones 

 are nearly all fragmentary, and much broken ; the fractures being of 

 an ancient date, thereby showing that the remains had been subject 

 to violence and fracture before they were imbedded in their calca- 

 reous tomb. 



How long these remains have lain in the cave ? by what means they 

 have been carried and entombed there ? whether the animal-remains 

 belong to existing or to extinct species ? and how the fractured bones 

 are to be accounted for ? are all very interesting palseontological 

 problems. 



The cave has in all probability been occasionally inhabited by 

 wolves, foxes, etc., which would sally forth, seize their prey, and re- 

 turn to devour it, leaving the bones to be covered over by the stalag- 

 mite as we find them ; the coprolites before mentioned seem to point 

 to this conclusion. There seems to be not so much mystery about 

 the animal bones being found there ; but the ease is quite different 

 as regards the human. There is always something strange and start- 

 ling in such occurrences, when human remains are found otherwise 

 tlian reposing in tlie silent and hallowed precincts of a regular bury- 

 ing-place. 



During the iiiterment of these relics of some of the perhaps earliest 

 members of our race, tlie rippling of running water on the cavern 

 floor, the monotonous drippings from the roof, tlie growling perhaps 

 of wolves, or the barking of foxes, and the bellowing of the wind 

 through the gloomy chambers of the cavern, would form the only 

 requiem. 



[6 or 7 feet wide.] 



Fig. 3. — Section of cave. 



a Angular piece of Limestone, Saud, etc. 

 Stalagmite, c Osseous remains, Sand, Silt, etc. 

 d Stalagmite, e Open cave, f Limestone. 



