Bimana. MAMMALIA. Bimana. 
iv 
M. Lartet, after a close scrutiny of the bones sent to 
the I’aris Museum for Cuvier’s inspection, observed 
that some of tliem bore the evident marks of an in 
strument agreeing well with incisions such as a rude 
flint saw would produce. Among others mentioned 
as having been thus artificially cut, are those of the 
llhinoceros tichorhinus, and the antler of the Cervus 
somonensis. 
'J’he evidence obtained by naturalists that some of 
the e.vtinct Mammalia of this valley really lived and 
died in this part of France at the time of the imbed- 
ding of the flint tools in fluviatile strata, is most sat- 
isfactory ; and not the less so for having been put on 
record long before any suspicion was^ntertained that 
works of art would ever be detected in the same beds. 
'I’hus M. Baillon, writing in 1834 to M. Ravin, says: 
“ 'I’hey begin to meet with fossil bones at the depth 
of ten or twelve feet in the sand-pits of the Somme, 
but they find a much greater quantity at the depth of 
eighteen and twenty feet. Some of them were evi- 
dently broken before they were imbedded ; others are 
rounded, having, without doubt, been rolled by running 
water. It is at the bottom of the sand-pit that the 
most entire bones occur. Here they lie without hav- 
ing undergone friction or fracture, and seem to have 
been articulated togethei’ at the time when they were 
covered up. I found in one place a whole hind limb 
of a Rhinoceros, the bones of which were still in their 
usual relative position. 'J'hey must have been joined 
together by ligaments, and even surrounded by mus- 
cles, at tlie time of their interment. 'I'he entire skele- 
ton of the same species was lying at a short distance 
from the spot.” 
Prof. Noeggerath, of Bonn, informs us that about 
the year 1845, when the bed of the Rhine was deep- 
ened artificially, several flint hatchets were brought 
up by the dredge from the bed of the great river. 
Ascending the valley of the Somme from Abbeville to 
Amiens, a distance of twenty-five miles, we observe a 
repetition of all the same alluvial phenomena which 
we have seen elsewhere in this region, with the single 
e.vception of the absence of marine shells and of 
Cyrena fluvial ills. In both the lower and upper 
gravels, flint tools and the bones of extinct animals, 
together with river shells and land shells of living 
species, abound. A little below Amiens, at Montiers, 
in the gravel, were found some flint knives, one of 
them flat on one side, but the other carefully worked, 
and exhibiting many fractures, clearly produced by 
blows skilfully applied. Some of these knives were 
taken from so low a level as to satisfy us that'liiis 
great bed of gravel at Mon tiers, as well as that of the 
contiguous quarries of St. Roch, which seems to be a 
continuation of the same deposit, may be referred to 
the Human Period. Dr. Rigollot had already men- 
tioned flint hatchets as obtained by him from St. 
Roch, but as none have been found there of late years, 
his statement was thought to require confirmation. 
'I’he discovery, therefore, of these flint knives in gravel 
of the same age was interesting, especially as many 
tusks of a Hipi)opotamus have been obtained from the 
gravel of St. Roch, some of these recently by Mr. 
Prestwick ; while M. Gamier, of Amiens, has pro- 
cured a fine Elephant’s molar from the same pits, 
which Dr. Falconer refers to Elephas antiquus. 
Hence it is inferred that both these animals coexisted 
with Man. 
'I’here is to be seen in the American Museum, New 
York, a collection of over three thousand objects 
in flint — implements in every stage of workmanship, 
from the rude chip to the beautifully polished and 
symmetrical celt or adze — nearly all obtained from 
the valley of the Somme. A map and sectional draw- 
ings show the locality and character of soil — immense 
chalk cliffs — from whence these curious relics have 
been taken. 'I'he chalk cliff's have furnished the 
material to our knowledge of the pre-historic Man, 
and in the gravelly drift that has accumulated over 
them, he, his associated beasts and implements have 
all found a mausoleum. A number of celts bear rude 
carvings, as representatives of the human figure, rings 
and crescents ; all much in the manner of our juvenile 
slate-pencil artists. These ancient peoples seem to have 
had a fancy for all objects that bore any resemblance to 
the human face or form. 'I’liere are many specimens 
in this collection which have been carefully polished 
and cut to preserve and heighten the supposed re- 
semblance. These were undoubtedly household gods ; 
or, possibly, may have been used as tonmpum, if we 
may borrow a term from the North American Indian. 
Among the choicest relics are beautifully-polished 
axes, set in Stag-horn and in long bones of domestic 
animals. Implements of the hardest nature are found, 
polished, and formed into beautiful shapes; Quartz- 
crystal, Jade and Porphyry are common. The sub 
ject of Archaeology has heretofore received but little 
attention in America ; it is therefore a matter of great 
interest that so much valuable matefial has been ob- 
tained. 
'I'he models of Swiss Lake Dwellings, and a large 
collection of stone and bone implements from the 
same locality, are most important additions, and are 
of great value to the student of this interesting de- 
partment of science. 
In 1857, in a cave near Dusseldorf, situated in the 
valley of the Neanderthal, and about seventy miles 
from the caverns of Lidge, there was found a portion 
of a human skull that has become more familiar to 
the scientific world than others, in view of certain 
characters which stamp it as of an unusually low type. 
Other bones were found which were evidently portions 
of the same skeleton, but the workmen had so scat- 
tered them that only the long bones were preserved. 
Upon the surface of the cranium, both on the inner 
and the outer, were a profusion of dendritical crystal- 
lizations, and some other bones were similarly orna- 
mented. 'I'he absolute and relative length of the long 
bones agree well with the dimensions of a European 
individual of like stature at the present day, but the 
thickness of the bones is regarded as very extraordin- 
ary. The elevation and depression for the attachment 
of muscles were developed in an unusual degree. 
Some of the ribs were of a singularly rounded shape 
and abrupt curvature. 'I’he remarkable depression of 
the forehead is not due to an artificial flattening, such- 
as is seen in practice among the barbarous nations of 
