BRUNIQUEL, AND ITS ORGANIC CONTENTS. 
525 
relation, precisely as we find the breccia and stalagmite in relation to the bones of the 
extinct quadrupeds and to the flint implements contained in the same mass. 
Near the skull are some cervical and dorsal vertebrae, the former dislocated, some of 
the latter in natural juxtaposition with portions of the ribs. There is also the head of 
a femur closely adherent to the stalagmite moulded upon its articular surface, the rest of 
the bone having been broken away with the previously detached block of breccia, 
exposing the fine cancellous structure of the head of the femur. 
The general arrangement, or rather disarrangement, of the fragments of the human 
skeleton in the present mass of breccia, suggests that the body had been originally 
interred in a sitting or crouching posture, and that after decomposition and dissolution 
of the soft parts, the skeleton had yielded to the superincumbent weight ; the head 
having become detached for a short distance from the neck. Every appearance supports 
the inference that the human remains are contemporaneous with the other organic 
contents of the breccia. 
This mass of breccia includes some of the flattened water-worn stones, of which many 
were introduced into the cavern, from the bed of the adjacent river, evidently for use as 
seats, anvils, fire-places, See . ; and from the greater number of such stones above the place 
where the human skulls were exposed in the recess of the cavern, marked b, fig. 4, 
I was led to infer that they had been thus placed to cover the interred body, or in 
some sepulchral relation therewith. There are many smaller irregular portions of stone 
in the mass ; and the mud, in some parts of a brownish colour, in others blackish, is 
calcified or petrified by the infiltrating drip of the cavern. 
The larger blocks of stone consist of the same kind of greyish limestone of which the 
greater part of the neighbouring rocks is composed. There is a reddish-coloured lime- 
stone in smaller fragments, which kind also appears, variegating the colour, in some 
parts of the cliffs. There is also a piece of micaceous schist about 4 inches diameter in 
the same mass of breccia. 
I caused a cast to be taken of the interior of this hinder portion of cranium in elastic 
material, from which a mould was prepared affording casts in plaster of Paris, which 
convey an instructive idea of the size and form of the back part of the brain of the old 
cave-dweller. 
The posterior lobes of the cerebrum are narrow but prominent, projecting beyond 
those of the cerebellum. The breadth of the cerebellum is 4 inches 1 line, the length 
of each lateral lobe is 2 inches 6 lines. 
In extracting what appeared to be the more perfect of the two crania partially exposed 
in the recess b, fig. 4, the breccia was fractured with different parts of the cranium 
attached to the different pieces. The portions of cranium having been detached from 
the breccia were found on reunion to compose an almost entire ‘ calvarium ’ of one 
individual (Register No. 38308, British Museum). This, after the calcareous matrix 
had been entirely removed from both outer and inner surfaces, was soaked in a solution 
of gelatin to restore its original tenacity. 
mdccclxix. 4 B 
