On Some Fossil Remains of Man | Page 9

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 resemble the ribs of a carnivorous animal than those of a man. Dr.
H. v. Meyer, however, to whose judgment I defer, will not venture to
declare them to be ribs of any animal; and it only remains to suppose
that this abnormal condition has arisen from an unusually powerful
development of the thoracic muscles.
"The bones adhere strongly to the tongue, although, as proved by the
use of hydrochloric acid, the greater part of the cartilage is still retained
in them, which appears, however, to have undergone that
transformation into gelatine which has been observed by v. Bibra in
fossil bones. The surface of all the bones is in many spots covered with
minute black specks, which, more especially under a lens, are seen to
be formed of very delicate 'dendrites'. These deposits, which were first
observed on the bones by Dr. Meyer, are most distinct on the inner
surface of the cranial bones. They consist of a ferruginous compound,
and, from their black colour, may be supposed to contain manganese.
Similar dendritic formations also occur, not unfrequently, on laminated
rocks, and are usually found in minute fissures and cracks. At the

meeting of the Lower Rhine Society at Bonn, on the 1st April, 1857,
Prof. Meyer stated that he had noticed in the museum of Poppelsdorf
similar dendritic crystallizations on several fossil bones of animals, and
particularly on those of 'Ursus spelaeus', but still more abundantly and
beautifully displayed on the fossil bones and teeth of 'Equus
adamiticus', 'Elephas primigenius', etc., from the caves of Bolve and
Sundwig. Faint indications of similar 'dendrites' were visible in a
Roman skull from Siegburg; whilst other ancient skulls, which had lain
for centuries in the earth, presented no trace of them.*
[footnote] *'Verh. des Naturhist'. Vereins in Bonn, xiv. 1857. I am
indebted to H. v. Meyer for the following remarks on this subject:--
'The incipient formation of dendritic deposits, which were formerly
regarded as a sign of a truly fossil condition, is interesting. It has even
been supposed that in diluvial deposits the presence of 'dendrites' might
be regarded as affording a certain mark of distinction between bones
mixed with the diluvium at a somewhat later period and the true
diluvial relics, to which alone it was supposed that these deposits were
confined. But I have long been convinced that neither can the absence
of 'dendrites' be regarded as indicative of recent age, nor their presence
as sufficient to establish the great antiquity of the objects upon which
they occur. I have myself noticed upon paper, which could scarcely be
more than a year old, dendritic deposits, which could not be
distinguished from those on fossil bones. Thus I possess a dog's skull
from the Roman colony of the neighbouring Heddersheim, 'Castrum
Hadrianum', which is in no way distinguishable from the fossil bones
from the Frankish caves; it presents the same colour, and adheres to the
tongue just as they do; so that this character also, which, at a former
meeting of German naturalists at Bonn, gave rise to amusing scenes
between Buckland and Schmerling, is no longer of any value. In
disputed cases, therefore, the condition of the bone can scarcely afford
the means for determining with certainty whether it be fossil, that is to
say, whether it belong to geological antiquity or to the historical
period.'
"As we cannot now look upon the primitive world as representing a

wholly different condition of things, from which no transition exists to
the organic life of the present time, the designation of 'fossil', as applied
to 'a bone', has no longer the sense it conveyed in the time of Cuvier.
Sufficient grounds exist for the assumption that man coexisted with the
animals found in the 'diluvium'; and many a barbarous race may, before
all historical time, have disappeared, together with the animals of the
ancient world, whilst the races whose organization is improved have
continued the genus. The bones which form the subject of this paper
present characters which, although not