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SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
i 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
Quaternary Human Remains at Nice . — On the 21st March some reports 
upon the occurrence of human remains in an undisturbed deposit at Nice 
were laid before the French Academy (see Comptes Rendus of the above date), j 
M. Desor described the geological structure of the ground, which had at the 
surface metre of vegetable soil, followed by P93 M. of tufaceous calcareous 
mud, overlying about 1 metre of siliceous sand, with intermixed Pliocene 
and Eocene fossils, beneath which were 2 metres of gravel, more or less 
conglomerated, surmounting a compact conglomerate. The bones were 
found in the calcareous deposit at an altitude of from 25 to 30 metres above 
the bottom of the surrounding valleys. There is no trace of disturbance or 
irregularity around the cavity from which the remains were extracted, and i 
all the characters of the deposit show that there can be no question of j 
inhumation. The portions of skeleton obtained were found 058 M. above 
the bottom of the deposit. The stratification is in all directions, and would 
seem to indicate torrential action, so common in quaternary times; the J 
human skeleton was probably conveyed to the position where it was found 
by a current. The deposit must have been formed at a period when the 
shore was lower than at present, when the Paillon and the other water- 
courses of the coast spread over the Tertiary plateaux before they had j 
hollowed out their present beds. The deposit is thus one of the diluvial 
formations contemporaneous with the erosion of the Tertiary plateaux. 
The human remains found, as determined by Dr. Niepce, consist of the 
following bones : — Part of the lower jaw, including the left and part of the 
right ramus, and containing the four last molars well preserved. The alveoli I 
of the teeth are vertical, with no trace of prognathism. The left ramus | 
measures 11 centim. from the angle to the symphysis ; and the distance between 
the two branches is 95 millim. The teeth are scarcely at all worn, and the j 
last molar is as large as the rest. 
The other bones are a fragment of the middle of the femur, fragments of 
the left tibia, a fragment of the left humerus, a fragment of the radius, and 
a fragment probably of the clavicle. From the examination of these portions 
Dr. Niepce arrives at the conclusion that the bones probably belonged to a j 
small person not less than thirty years old, probably a woman. 
M. de Quatrefages goes into the question of race, for the determination of j 
which the materials do not seem very sufficient. He finds, however, that j 
