390 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
3upraciliary development, and a flatteuing of the frontal bones, so as to form a 
low type of cranial conformation, exhibiting somewhat an approximation to the 
negro 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 of 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 aiithoritative 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, F.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 Ger-nany 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 tlie 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 w^ho 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 paloeontologist 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 supraciliary 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 supraciliary 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 sums, which is a 
large cavity, divided into two portions by a perpendicular osseous partition, 
and lined with a continuation of the pituitary membrane, secreting the lubri- 
cating mueus discharged into the nose. This frontal sinus. Prof. Schauif- 
haussen thinks, is the main cause of the production of the enormous supraciliary 
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. 
Such a protuberance has no certain, or even probable, relation to the extent, 
depth, or even existence of any vacinity beneath." In the Papuan and Austra- 
lian races of men, which approach nearest to the ape in their cranial conforma- 
