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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY. 
HE researches of the last two years have done much to prove that 
man may be regarded as a fossil form of life, as may the mammoth 
or mastodon. Accordingly, naturalists and geologists are everywhere busy 
writing our early history. 
The fossil bones of man are not yet very numerous, and only one skull 
can be referred with any certainty to the date of the extinct animals of the 
Gravel period. It was found in a cave at Engis, near Liitticb, in Germany, 
associated with bones of the cave bear and other extinct mammals, all in 
the same state of fossilization, and covered by stalagmite. There is nothing 
very unusual about the skull except that the forehead retreats from the 
face with remarkable rapidity. But though this is the only specimen the 
great age of which is certainly proved, another human skull has been 
found in a cave at Neanderthal, between Dusseldorf and Elberfeld, which 
may be quite as old, and which is far more unlike the skulls of existing 
men. A side view of this specimen is given in Fig. 1 of the adjoining 
plate ; and immediately below it, in Fig. 3, is an outline of the correspond- 
ing portion of the cranium of a young Chimpanzee. It can scarcely be 
necessary to insist on the near resemblance of the two forms. Fig. 2 is a 
front view of the human skull. In it will be noticed the very prominent 
ridges over the orbits ; though not nearly so much developed, they 
resemble those of the Gorilla, and are a character commonly associated 
in old human skulls with a depressed forehead. This human skull is the 
most degraded form known, and makes the nearest approach to the ape’s. 
Along with it were found a number of other bones ; and these, too, differ 
much from the bones of existing men. The limb-bones are thicker in 
proportion to their length. This is a feature very characteristic of the 
higher apes. It also distinguishes the bones of children ; so that, as we 
grow old, we put off the monkey. It is to Professor Shaaffhousen, of 
Bonn, we are indebted for a description of these remains. Sir Charles 
Lyell has verified the conditions of the cave in which the former specimen 
was found. Professor Huxley, remarking on the skulls, says that that 
from Neandersthal does not differ more from the Engis example than do 
the skulls of some Australian aborigines one from another.* 
An account of another interesting cave exploration is given us by 
M. Lartet. Near the town of Auvignae, in the south of France, a small 
hollow on the side of a hill was accidentally discovered by a labouring- 
man to contain about seventeen human skeletons. By order of the then 
mayor they were removed, and re-interred in the parish burial-ground ; 
and in this translation were found a number of teeth of mammals, which, 
* Although we shall unhesitatingly admit into our pages all reliable in- 
formation bearing upon the early history of our race, and upon the origin 
of species, yet we wish it to be distinctly understood that we do not con- 
sider the time has arrived for the adoption of any of the contending theories 
on these interesting subjects. — E d. P. S. It. 
