460 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
filled by the fang, and the interval was partially occupied by black matrix and 
sandy particles. The Conference was too pressed for time to wait for a chymical 
analysis. The general results may be epitomised thus : — 
1. The bone was free from mineral impregnation, and but little altered other¬ 
wise 2. The matrix was w r ashed off with facility, leaving a clean, mottled, 
and but slightly eroded surface. 3. The black coating or matrix had not 
penetrated deeply into the dental canal, which was lined by a layer of grey 
sand that looked as if it were the result of a previous lodgment of the bone 
in a non-ferruginous sandy bed. 4. The section of the fang of the molar 
yielded all the characters of freshness which had been previously observed in 
the “ detached molar.” 
The opinion expressed by Mr. Busk upon the first inspection of the divided jaw, 
was that “ the bone is of considerable but not of very high antiquity, and that it 
presents no character which may not be found in cemetery bones.” It is to be 
remarked also that its condition was quite different from that of the fossil bones of 
the quaternary sands and gravels in the valley of the Somme, which, whether from 
the white sandy beds of Menchecourt, or the ferruginous gravels at St. Acheul, are 
all commonly covered and pervaded throughout their substance by dendritic 
deposits. 
The observation with respect to the resemblance between the washed surface of 
the jaw and that of a Gallo-Roman jaw from St. Acheul, was applied, not to the 
colour, which was very different, but to the degree of erosion which it had under¬ 
gone. In this respect, if there were any difference, the erosion appeared to be less 
in the Moulin-Quignon jaw than in the other. (G. B.) 
Note. 40.—The party here named reached Abbeville about midday, and were 
present at the operations on the ground, after 2 p.m. 
Note 41.—The adjournment of the Conference to Abbeville, suggested by the 
President, was not contemplated in the original programme forwarded from 
London. The proposal was doubtless judicious, from the important share which 
the evidence as to the nature of the beds, whether disturbed or undisturbed, 
must necessarily have had in determining the final conclusions. But considering 
the opinions held by some of the members as to the very significant nature of 
the intrinsic evidence, respecting the modern character of the lidches, and the non¬ 
fossil condition of the jaw, as set forth in the preceding proces verbaux, time and 
caution were demanded in order to carry it out properly, and guard against errors 
of observation or hasty judgment, on the conditions under which lidches or other 
objects might present themselves in the section. The sources of fallacy and 
grounds of suspicion were numerous. Operations on the gravel-pit hurried through 
a single day, under a multiplicity of observers, amidst many distractions and much 
excitement, were hardly consistent with the close, severe and repeated scrutiny 
which the critical importance of the case required. Yet the operations thus carried 
out formed the basis upon which the final conclusions were in a great measure 
founded. (H. F. and G. B.) 
Note 42.—The opinion here expressed is an assumption which has not been 
sustained by subsequent observation. After the close of the Conference Mr. Evans 
visited Abbeville, and ascertained by experiment that a horizontal hole might be 
dug into the face of the gravel section at Moulin-Quignon, and afterwards plugged 
up in such a manner as not to be discernible except under the closest examination. 
This statement is made with the sanction of Mr. Evans. 
Note 43.—The sand here referred to was not compared under the microscope 
with that lining the arterial canal of the jaw: the correspondence of the two, 
further than that they were both grey sands, was not established by actual observa¬ 
tion but assumed. The sand contained in the canal was carefully examined under 
the microscope by several members of the Conference at their previous meeting. 
Note 44.—The opinion expressed by Mr. Busk was not exactly that set forth in 
the “ proces verbal but that “ the coloration of the flints of the gravel of the 
‘ black seam’ must have taken place anteriorly to the lodgment of the bone among 
them, otherwise the bone would have been equally stained .” (G. B.) 
