57 
Ordinary Meeting, December 27th, 1864. 
E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the 
Chair. 
Mr. John Robinson and Mr. Joseph Spencer were elected 
Ordinary Members of the Society. 
The bones of an adult gorilla from the Museum of the 
Natural History Society were exhibited, and some remarks 
on them were made by Edward Lund, Esq., F.R.C.S. Ex., 
his object being to point out the characteristics of the gorilla 
skeleton by a direct comparison with the bones in man. 
He said that when the bones of this gorilla were shown to 
him at the Museum, the first he took up happened to be the 
highest bone of the neck, the atlas, and he was much struck 
by its close resemblance to the same bone in man ; it was 
however larger, while the hole in the transverse process for 
the passage of the vertebral artery was very much smaller, 
indicating a less supply of blood to the brain. With regard 
to the age of the specimen, he had no doubt that the skeleton 
was that of an adult, for all the bones were thoroughly ossi- 
fied and the teeth were much worn down and filled by a 
secondary deposit of cementum. As to sex, he could not 
speak positively, for he did not know how far the differences 
in the pelvis observable in the human subject would hold 
good in the gorilla, but he pointed out the angular shape of 
the pelvic arch* which would lead to the supposition that the 
animal was a male. 
He said he would now take the bones in detail, grouping 
them as the head, the trunk, and the limbs, and would indi- 
cate their peculiarities by showing how they differ from the 
Proceedings Lit. & Phil. Society.— Yol. IY.— No. 7. — Session 1864-5. 
