176 
ment ; as, at the period of their discovery, they were submitted 
to Professor Owen for examination, who stated that interment 
for one hundred years would give the bones the appearance 
they then presented, but that no after time would cause 
the slightest alteration, so long as they remained in situ or 
undisturbed, which, of course, must be received with certain 
limitations, for, however preservative the tanning properties 
of peat may be, decay must inevitably result, sooner or later, 
and eventually all traces will disappear for ever — even of the 
most enduring substances. 
Whether, however, the specimens now before us can be 
traced back to Roman times or not, there can be no doubt 
the}" are of very early date, and, as they are very probably 
the only human relics exhumed from a peat moss in Yorkshire 
which have been preserved, the thanks of the Society are 
therefore due to Mr. Farrer, who, as Lord of the Manor, 
rescued them from destruction. To this gentleman's 
liberality and zeal. Archaeologists are also largely indebted 
for his explorations of Maes-howe, and other sepulchral 
chambers in the Orkneys; the former of which contains 
the most extensive seric s of Runic inscriptions discovered in 
Great Britain. 
Finally, it may not be irrelevant to state that under very 
peculiar circumstances rcirly all the animal substance dis- 
appears — that is to say, so far as relates to the human body — 
while the woollen clothing and wooden coffins remain in a 
comparatively perfect condition. Sir John Lubbock relates 
a most remarkable instance of this kind of the preservation 
of clothing, and the almost total disappearance of the bodies, 
in some interments during the bronze period, opened in 
1851. On a farm occupied by M. Dahls, near Ribe, in 
Jutland, are four tumuli, known as Great Konglhoi, Little 
Konglhoi, Guldhoi, and Tremhoi. The last was exhumed 
in 1851, by MM. Worsaae and Herbst. In it, near the 
