SCIENTIFIC SUMMAEY. 
Ill 
they possess a form different from all others previously found at Abbe- 
ville or Amiens ; ( b ) their angles are sharper than those of any other 
specimens except those of La Porte Mercade ; (c) they presented no 
staining or discoloration ; ( d ) they exhibited neither dendritic markings 
nor adherent matrix ; ( e ) the great sameness of character presented by 
all the specimens, as though they had all been made by one or two persons ; 
(/) none of the specimens were tinted with iron, although all the larger 
pebbles of the couche noire were so tinged ; (y) the matrix of the St. Gilles 
specimen contained “unquestionable traces of recent vegetable structure.’’ 
II. Of the jaw — ( a ) the black coating due to the matrix was washed off 
with the greatest readiness ; ( b ) there was no infiltration of metallic 
matter; (c) there was no appearance of dendrites either externally or 
within ; ( d ) the outer surface was rather smooth and quite unlike the 
condition in which buried bones are usually found ; (e) the substance of 
the bone was firm, and when sawn gave the peculiar odour produced 
when the saw cuts through fresh bone ; (/) the dentine of the tooth was 
white, and the enamel quite brilliant and in every way resembling that of 
a recent tooth ; ( g ) the dental canal was lined with a layer of grey sand, 
which was not mixed with the black matrix, and seemed to indicate that 
the bone had been at one period in a ferruginous sandy deposit ; (Ji) the mere 
adhesion of the particles of the black “ gangue” to the bone did not 
indicate that the bone had remained in the deposit for any considerable 
time, as experiments proved that when this substance was applied in its 
soft state to any surface, no matter how smooth, it adhered to it when dry 
with the greatest tenacity. The above characters of the bone and tooth 
are remarkable when contrasted with those of bones of an earlier date 
than the beds of Moulin-Quignon. The human lower jaw from a gravel 
heap of an Ipswich coprolite bed, alluded to in the discussion, although 
retaining some of its gelatine, is completely infiltrated with iron ; the 
Haversian canals being filled with red oxide, and a section of the fang 
proving that the dentine has been penetrated by the same metal. This 
demonstrates “that a human jaw, if favourably placed, is equally sus- 
ceptible of impregnation with metallic matter as the bone of any other 
mammal.” It is worthy of note, that the tooth which had been so care- 
fully examined in London, and had been forwarded from Abbeville, was not 
permitted a place in the evidence, it having been insinuated by the French 
savans that it might through some error have been confounded with some 
other specimen. The French men of science relied almost exclusively on 
circumstantial evidence, and seemed to reject the intrinsic variety, which 
was regarded by the English as of more importance. Among those who 
have especially taken part in this investigation we may mention the 
names of Mr. G. Busk, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Mr. Evans, Dr. Falconer, 
and Mr. Prestwich on the English side ; and of M. Delesse, M. de Perthes, 
M. de Quatrefages, M. Desnoyers, and M. Milne-Edwards who presided, 
on the part of French science. 
Ancient Shell Mounds of Scotland. — Mr. Lubbock, who has been exam- 
ining these remnants, has observed a very interesting circumstance in 
connection with the distribution of Bivalves. In one heap, which was 
situated at Brigzes farm, in the neighbourhood of Loch Spynie, he found 
