419 
that such an effect would be produced by the head of an arrow 
remaining in the wound after the shaft was broken off ; and from 
which he inferred therefore, that the chase of this gigantic 
animal once supplied the inhabitants of this country with 
food and clothing. The Doctor further observes — I am well 
aware of the occasional existence of holes in ribs, a few 
instances of which I have seen in the buman subject; but 
they differ essentially in character from tbe opening just 
described in the rib of the Deer, as they occupy the centre 
of the rib at its sternal extremity, and have their margin 
depressed on both sides. 
Professor Owen, in combating the above theory, objects 
to its probability for the following reason : — That a conical 
arrow-head, with a base one inch in diameter, sticking in a 
rib with its point in the chest, must have pierced the con- 
tiguous viscera, and, rankling there, excited rapid and fatal 
inflammation. The evidence of the healing process in the 
bone would rather show that the instrument which pierced 
the rib had not been left there to impede the vis medicatrix 
naturae. A pointed branch of the formidable antler is as 
well suited to inflict such a wound as the hypothetical 
arrow ; and if the combative instincts of the rutting Stag 
rightly indicate the circumstance under which the wound 
of the Megaceros was inflicted, they would be those which 
best accord with the actual evidence of recovering from it. 
Dr. Scouler, in alluding to the perforated rib, observes, — 
The combat of two males might cause the wound, and it 
is deserving of notice that in the very locality where the 
rib was found, two heads were also found with the antlers 
entwined in each other. The teeth of a carnivorous animal 
might also have caused the wound ; and, finally, a wound 
from the branch of a tree while the animal was swimming 
might also cause the mark of violence which we perceive 
on the rib. 
i i 
