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ON THE HUMAN JAW OF MOULIN-QUIGNON. 
XL VI.— An Account of the Proceedings of the late Confer¬ 
ence held in France to Inquire into the Circumstances 
ATTENDING THE ASSERTED DISCOVERY OF A HUMAN Jaw IN THE 
(travel at Moulin-Quignon, near Abbeville ; including 
the Proces Verbaux of the Sittings of the Conference, 
with Notes thereon. By H. Falconer, M.D., F.F.S. ; Greorge 
Busk, Esq., F.F.S.,; and W. B. Carpenter, M.D., Vice President 
Foyal Soc. 
1. ■ Introductory Eemarks and Historical Summary. 
The * Trial of the Jaw ’ or the inquisition by a conference of men of 
science, French and English, held at Paris and Abbeville, on the 
“ human jaw ” and flint luiches, asserted to have been discovered in situ, 
by M. Boucher de Perthes, in the £ couche noire 1 of the gravel-pit of 
Moulin-Quignon, has excited lively general interest on both sides of 
the Channel. The present communication is mainly intended for the 
publication, textually, of the proces verbaux of the meetings of the 
Conference, and of the conclusions at which it arrived. The minutes 
of the proceedings, embodying a condensed abstract of the discussions, 
were, in the absence of a shorthand-writer, drawn up, during the 
progress of each stance , by the able and distinguished Secretary, 
M. Delesse, Professor of GfeoJogy to the Ecole Normale, Paris. 
The debates were frequently discursive, in consequence of the variety 
of points involved in the investigation. The main subject was at 
times dropt, and questions raised on subordinate issues which, in the 
end, proved unimportant. M. Delesse, in the opinion of the English 
members of the Conference, is entitled to the highest credit for the 
ability, judgment, and impartiality, which he has displayed in seizing 
upon the leading features of the debates, and in conveying the 
opinions of the different speakers, under very considerable difficulties, 
he himself having taken an active share in the general discussion. 
The English members have to indicate some corrections, but, for the 
most part, these are not of very material importance, and it has been 
considered best to reproduce the £ proces verbaux ’ verbatim in the form 
in which an authenticated copy has been forwarded to London by 
M. Delesse, pointing out the corrections in the running commentary 
of explanatory notes appended to the proceedings.* 
It may be useful, before the production of the ‘ proces verbaux ,* to 
give a brief resume of the circumstances which led to the meeting of 
the Conference.—Fashioned flint-weapons, unquestionably of very 
remote antiquity and as certain proofs of human agency as the watch 
* It is further due to M Delesse to state that on the existence of these slight 
differences being brought to his notice by Dr. Carpenter and Mr. PrestwDh, he 
at once expressed his readiness to make the corrections indicated; but it was 
considered inexpedient to alter the formal documents after signature. 
