422 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
scribed and figured not a foetal but an adult skull, apparently 
of a man between the ages of thirty and fifty, in which the 
parietal bones of both sides are divided by longitudinal 
sutures, each into two equal parts, making in all four sym- 
metrically disposed parietal bones. This skull then ditfers 
from my foetal one, in which there are only three such bones 
unsymmetrically disposed, and in which the two parts of 
the divided parietal bone are not equal, the upper piece 
being twice the size of the lower.* 
I may also state, that the foetal head, the peculiarity of 
whose parietal bones I have just described, presented in a 
marked manner the condition of Split Palate. In the recent 
state the interior of the nasal fossae was completely visible 
on opening the mouth ; and as regards the dried bones, the 
palate plates of the superior maxillary and palate bones are 
entirely deficient, the superior maxillary bone articulating 
with its fellow of the opposite side only in front, and by the 
part corresponding to the intermaxillary of the other mam- 
malia. Further than this the cranium presents nothing 
worthy of note. 
III. RemarJcs on the so called Raised Sea-Beach Bed in the Neigh- 
bourhood of Leith, and its Relations to other Deposits.. By James 
M'Bain, M.D., R.N. 
The superficial deposits which repose upon the grooved and 
dressed surface of the solid rocks have been classified under 
various appellations, according to the opinions entertained 
from time to time as to their mode of origin. In the " Ee- 
liquise Diluvianse," published in 1823, the superficial strata 
are ascribed to a recent and transient inundation, considered 
to be identical with the Noachian Deluge ; hence the terms 
diluvial, ante-diluvial, and post-diluvial, adopted in that cele- 
brated work. These names ceased to be employed in this 
sense by geologists after the well-known reply of Dr Fleming, 
entitled " The Geological Deluge, as interpreted by Baron 
* Since the above has been in print, I have seen in " Henle's Anatomy" 
a reference to yet another analogous case, recorded by Gruber, " Abhand- 
lungen aus der Menschl. und Vergl. Anatomic," ^ 113. Unfortunately I have 
not been able to see this latter work. 
