On Some Fossil Remains of Man | Page 8

superior semicircular ridges of the occipital. Estimated in dried millet-seed, the contents equalled 31 ounces, Prussian Apothecaries' weight. The semicircular line indicating the upper boundary of the attachment of the temporal muscle, though not very strongly marked, ascends nevertheless to more than half the height of the parietal bone. On the right superciliary ridge is observable an oblique furrow or depression, indicative of an injury received during life.*
[footnote] *This, Mr. Busk has pointed out, is probably the notch for the frontal nerve. The coronal and sagittal sutures are on the exterior nearly closed, and on the inside so completely ossified as to have left no traces whatever, whilst the lambdoidal remains quite open. The depressions for the Pacchionian glands are deep and numerous; and there is an unusually deep vascular groove immediately behind the coronal suture, which, as it terminates in the foramen, no doubt transmitted a 'vena emissaria'. The course of the frontal suture is indicated externally by a slight ridge; and where it joins the coronal, this ridge rises into a small protuberance. The course of the sagittal suture is grooved, and above the angle of the occipital bone the parietals are depressed.
mm.*
[footnote] *The numbers in brackets are those which I should assign to the different measures, as taken from the plaster cast.--G. B.
The length of the skull from the nasal process of the frontal over the vertex to the superior semicircular lines of the occipital measures.............................303 (300) = 12.0". Circumference over the orbital ridges and the superior semicircular lines of the occipital......................................590 (590) = 23.37" or 23". Width of the frontal from the middle of the temporal line on one side to the same point on the opposite.....................104 (114) = 4.1"--4.5". Length of the frontal from the nasal. process to the coronal suture..................133 (125) = 5.25"--5". Extreme width of the frontal sinuses...........25 (23) = 1.0"--0.9". Vertical height above a line joining the deepest notches in the squamous border of the parietals...............................70 = 2.75". Width of hinder part of skull from one parietal protuberance to the other.............138 (150) = 5.4"--5.9" Distance from the upper angle of the occipital to the superior semicircular lines..........................................51 (60) = 1.9"--2.4". Thickness of the bone at the parietal protuberance...................................8. --at the angle of the occipital................9. --at the superior semicircular line of the occipital..................................10 = 0.3"
"Besides the cranium, the following bones have been secured:--
"1. Both thigh-bones, perfect. These, like the skull, and all the other bones, are characterized by their unusual thickness, and the great development of all the elevations and depressions for the attachment of muscles. In the Anatomical Museum at Bonn, under the designation of 'Giant's-bones,' are some recent thigh-bones, with which in thickness the foregoing pretty nearly correspond, although they are shorter.
Giant's bones. Fossil bones. mm. mm. Length.....................................542 = 21.4"......438 = 17.4" Diameter of head of femur.................. 54 = 2.14"..... 53 = 2.0" " of lower articular end, from one condyle to the other................ 89 = 3.5"....... 87 = 3.4" Diameter of femur in the middle............ 33 = 1.2"....... 30 = 1.1"
"2. A perfect right humerus, whose size shows that it belongs to the thigh-bones. mm. Length.....................................312 = 12.3" Thickness in the middle.................... 26 = 1.0" Diameter of head........................... 49 = 1.9"
"Also a perfect right radius of corresponding dimensions, and the upper-third of a right ulna corresponding to the humerus and radius.
"3. A left humerus of which the upper-third is wanting, and which is so much slenderer than the right as apparently to belong to a distinct individual; a left 'ulna', which, though complete, is pathologically deformed, the coronoid process being so much enlarged by bony growth, that flexure of the elbow beyond a right angle must have been impossible; the anterior fossa of the humerus for the reception of the coronoid process being also filled up with a similar bony growth. At the same time, the olecranon is curved strongly downwards. As the bone presents no sign of rachitic degeneration, it may be supposed that an injury sustained during life was the cause of the anchylosis. When the left ulna is compared with the right radius, it might at first sight be concluded that the bones respectively belonged to different individuals, the ulna being more than half an inch too short for articulation with a corresponding radius. But it is clear that this shortening, as well as the attenuation of the left humerus, are both consequent upon the pathological condition above described.
"4. A left 'ilium', almost perfect, and belonging to the femur: a fragment of the right 'scapula'; the anterior extremity of a rib of the right side; and the same part of a rib of the left side; the hinder part of a rib of the right side; and lastly, two hinder portions and one middle portion of ribs, which from their unusually rounded shape, and abrupt curvature, more