On Some Fossil Remains of Man | Page 8

only of the portion situated above the roof
of the orbits and the superior occipital ridges, which are greatly
developed, and almost conjoined so as to form a horizontal eminence.
It includes almost the whole of the frontal bone, both parietals, a small
part of the squamous and the upper-third of the occipital. The recently
fractured surfaces show that the skull was broken at the time of its

disinterment. The cavity holds 16,876 grains of water, whence its
cubical contents may be estimated at 57.64 inches, or 1033.24 cubic
centimetres. In making this estimation, the water is supposed to stand
on a level with the orbital plate of the frontal, with the deepest notch in
the squamous margin of the parietal, and with the 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