was repeated, and it tended to confirm the theory-he might almost call it the law-that these so-called abnormities become more common the further our examinations are extended, and that, in reality, there are very few abnormal formations, strictly considered. This specimen was another instance, that what appears to be abnormal on a limited examination, is found to be common when the investigations are extended. Mr. MACKENZIE drew attention to the fact, that the enamel of the teeth was perfectly preserved after an interment of about 600 years; and he desired to know the nature of the soil in which the bodies had been buried. Mr. ROBERTS stated that the date of the jaw was about the year 1280, and that the bodies had been buried in gravel. He saw about six or seven different skeletons; but they were so much decomposed, that he could not get more than the jaw, which he now produced, and a few bones. Mr. MACKENZIE further observed, that in the skeletons of some of the men killed in Cromwell's battles, though of a much more recent date, the teeth were all decayed. Mr. C. CARTER BLAKE said, that the state of preservation in which skeletons were found depended on the nature of the substance in which the bodies had been deposited. In the human remains found in peat, the enamel was always well preserved. The thanks of the meeting having been given to Mr. Roberts and to Mr. C. Carter Blake, the following paper was read :— On Human Remains from Kent's Hole, near Torquay. By C. CARTER BLAKE, F.G.S., F.A.S.L., Foreign Associate of the Anthropo logical Society of Paris. SOME time ago, Mr. William Davies, of the British Museum, to whom I am indebted for many suggestions relating to the specimens in that collection, called my attention to a few remains from the classically celebrated cave of Kent's Hole, which had been obtained by purchase from a dealer named Heggerty, and which had been passed over by many observers on the subject. I shall, with the Society's permis sion, give a list of these objects, with a few descriptive notes. 1. Left humerus, covered on one side with thin layer of stalagmite, charged with carbonate of iron. 2. Left ulna, exhibiting traces, but in less degree, of stalagmitic deposit; the bone is worn very thin in middle, where it has been gnawed by mice, or other small rodents. 3. Axis and six fragments of cervical vertebræ. 4. Right ramus of the inferior mandible of an aged individual; no teeth are in place. Sockets, however, exist, indicating the spots where i 1, i 2 on right side, i 1 on left side, canine on right side, and p 1 and p 2 right side have been. Alveolar absorption operating for a long period of time before death, has removed all traces of the true molar series. The body of the jaw is consequently very thin immediately below this part, a flattened depression, as is usual in aged individuals, scooping backwards a cavity, which obliterating VOL. II.-NO. VII. t nearly every trace of alveolus, has ascended the inner side of the coronoid process. The tip and a great part of this process has been broken away, but sufficient remains to show that it was during adult life strong and powerful, extending well forward in front of an imaginary vertical line drawn from the posterior edge of the third molar tooth. Concomitant with the alveolar absorption, and the other traces of age, bony deposit has extended across the sigmoid notch, rendering that depression even more shallow than it would appear from the evident slenderness of the condyle, which also has been broken away. The depressions for the attachment of muscles are well marked, especially that for the masseter, which is so well developed, that the external angular process, for the attachment of that muscle, is prominently developed outwards and upwards into a tuberculous elevation of bony matter. Turning to the inner side of the jaw, we find that the same conditions prevail. The inferior dental foramen is deep; its attendant mylohyoid groove well marked. The asperity for the attachment of the entopterygoid muscle is well marked, without however producing anything approaching to that inflexion of the inner margin, which forms so striking a feature in the jaw from Moulin-Quignon. In fact, all the curvature of the jaw in this part brings the most salient portion of the inferior margin outwards, not inwards, in such manner as to make the convex surface be inwards, the concave outwards, this conformation being produced by the great depression for the masseter muscle, and elevation of the angle. The obliquity of the ramus, which would otherwise have been very great, is thus by the minor development of the pterygoid process, compared with the same part in the MoulinQuignon jaw, reduced to a great extent. I append a few measurements of the jaw. Length of mandible, from tuber maxillare, to angle.... ins. 3-6 Height of ascending ramus (tips of condyle and coronoid being 2.45 Length of dental series from mesial incisive line to posterior edge 1-25 Distance from mental foramen to mesial incisive line 1.12 1-5 0-8 Height of jaw between front incisors Ditto at presumed spot of second molar... 5. Four fragments of cranial bones. The conditions under which the above bones seem to have been deposited are, according to my interpretation, that they have lain loosely on the floor of the cave, where they have become coated with small portions of stalagmite, without being imbedded in that substance. On comparison of their mineral conditions with those of the remains of Felis spelea, Ursus spelæus, Hyæna spelaa, and the other animals so commonly found under the stalagmite in the same locality, I have been struck with the entire dissimilarity which prevails. Although very little animal substance remains in the human remains, yet on comparing them with those of Hyana from the same cave, the characteristically red infiltration is present on both. The conclusion I wish to draw is, that no high antiquity can be assigned to the remains I have just described; I nevertheless have felt bound to investigate them, as the occurrence of human remains, with the frequently described works of art from the same locality, would be of the highest interest, should any such hereafter be discovered. Mr. ROBERTS said, that about four years ago the sum of £450 was granted by the Royal Society for the complete examination and clearing out of Kent's Hole, and a committee was appointed for the purpose; but owing to the gentlemen who composed it residing so far from the spot, and to other circumstances, they did not do much towards the accomplishment of the desired object. The chief thing they did was to discover about twenty flint implements in the mud of the cave, the whole of which were in his possession. He was afraid that nothing else was done by that committee; but he thought it very desirable that the cave which contained so many interesting objects should be cleared out, and that all the bones and flint implements, and other objects associated with them, should be collected and properly arranged. On Human Remains from a Bone Cave in Brazil. By C. CARTER BLAKE, F.G.S., F.A.S.L., Foreign Associate of the Anthropological Society of Paris. IN the British Museum there exist some human remains purchased with the Claussen collection, and forming part of the series of specimens which were discovered by Lund and Claussen in their investigations in Eastern Brazil. Mr. W. Davies having kindly drawn my attention to them, I will give a short list of the specimens, without wishing to draw any further conclusion than that they probably belong to a period of great historical antiquity, although probably not coeval with the fossil fauna which Lund has described in the Transactions of various northern academies. 1. Skull of young child. This skull is brachycephalic and asymmetrical, the right side being shorter than the left. There are evident traces of "parietooccipital" flattening, which has extended above the lambdoid and for a well defined space on either side of the sagittal suture. None of the sutures are complex. Flattening on the left side of the frontal bone is manifest, indicating the direction in which the compressing force has been exercised throughout life. No other abnormal development is visible. The molar and premolar teeth in place show little signs of erosion. The basioccipito-sphenoid suture having been present, the basioccipital bone has been broken away, as well as the right border of the foramen magnum and the right squamosal bone. The maxilla is slightly prognathic. The skull presents the most similarity to the skulls from Cañete, in Peru, described by Castelnau, and to some which I have seen from the uplands of the Argentine provinces, near Rosario. 2. Broken maxillary (adult?) left side. The first premolar, as well as the broken fragment of the second premolar, are the only teeth which remain. Slight erosion is visible on the crown of the first tooth. 3. Lower mandible, left ramus. Thickly incrusted with limonite and sand, which has filled up the alveoli. Only the first and second molars are in place, the second being turned out of its proper insertion, as well as the first being much worn. Both the molar teeth in place are much worn on the outer side of the teeth. All the other teeth, with the exception of the first premolar, are absent. No marked outward or inward inflection of the angle is present. 4. Lower mandible, left ramus. This specimen exhibits the same general characters as No. 3, with the exception that the incrustation of limonite is not present. On the inner sides of m. 3 and m. 2, the upper angles of the cusps have been broken away, the whole surface of the teeth being much worn. M. 1 is much worn, and a small fracture of the alveolar process outside it has permitted that the two outer fangs to be elevated and dislocated from their own proper in ertions, and to form by this dislocation a grinding surface. The first and second premolars, as well as the canine and first incisor, are also much worn. The mental process of the jaw is high; the genial tubercles distinct; and the mental foramen, not as in No. 3, filled up with limonite. The coronoid process is high; and, although the angle is broken away, enough remains to lead us to conjecture that it was strong and powerful. 5. Portions of parietal bones of average thickness, incrusted with ochreous mud. 6. Upper part of supraoccipital bone, and lower and posterior portions of two parietals, exhibiting the confluence of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures. The supraoccipital bone is slightly elevated above the level of the lambdoid suture, which, as well as the sagittal, is very complex. There are no traces of wormian ossifications; and on the inner side of the bone the sutures are perfectly closed. 7. Broken glabella and fragments of nasals, as well as a piece of the supraciliary arch of a young individual; frontal sinuses small. 8. Distal portion and shaft of humerus, gnawn by mice and by some larger rodent; thickly permeated by limonite. 9. Distal portion and shaft of humerus; young or small individual; no marks of teeth. 10. Proximal end of tibia, very young individual, wanting epiphyses; slightly gnawn by rodents. 11. Shaft of femur; much gnawn by rodents. 12. Proximal end of femur, including head and neck, and part of shaft, of young individual; gnawn by mice (Hesperomys). 13. Distal end of femur, exhibiting frequent marks of the teeth of some rodent, probably one of the small mice (Hesperomys) of the caves, slightly infiltrated with ochreous mud, and with much of the animal matter absent. 14. Tibia, long fragment of shaft; few traces of rodent action. The following three specimens are in the same condition as the fragments of the lower jaw, No. 3, above alluded to. 15. Long bone (small humerus?) imbedded in limonite, which contains many fragments of fossil shells, exceedingly difficult of identification. A specimen of Planorbis (of which fresh-water type four existing species in Brazil are recorded by Mr. S. P. Woodward in his Manual of Mollusca) is recognisable, as well as the broken fragments of an elongated land-snail, probably Bulimus. 16. Sections of three long bones, covered with sandy deposit containing large quantities of oxide of iron (limonite); the medullary cavity of the bones being filled with crystals of carbonate of lime. 17. Distal end of femur, thickly encrusted with limonite, the animal matter being absent 18. Head of humerus, covered with limonite. Mr. ROBERTS stated, that he had received a letter from a friend who had been inspecting the works now going on in the isle of Portland for the purpose of national defence, who stated that several ancient cists had been discovered there. In one of them was a skeleton buried in a sitting posture; and in the same cist were the bones of a dog, some bones of a deer, twenty-three flint flakes, and a quantity of charcoal. His friend said he hoped to obtain them, and send them to the Society. This was, he believed, the best known instance of the discovery of the skeleton of one of the ancient hunters of this country buried with his dog, his implements of chase, and with some meal for his support, in the manner now practised by the North-American Indians. Mr. C. CARTER BLAKE regretted that the specimens were thrown together in such a manner, that there was no positive evidence of the association of the human remains with those of the ancient fossil rodents, etc., described by Messrs. Lund and Claussen as having been found in other bone caves in Brazil. These remains were, no doubt, very ancient, but there was no positive evidence that they were of the same age as the fossil fauna; and in absence of further evidence, it would be rash to hazard a conjecture respecting them. In reference to the evidence of great antiquity afforded by the human remains found in bone caves, there was a great principle involved in the question whether those remains were found below or above the stalagmite of the caves. It was owing to the suggestion and assistance of Mr. Davies, that he had been enabled to lay the facts before the meeting. In the cave at Brixham, there were discovered flint implements mingled with the bones of extinct animals; but in Kent's Hole human remains were discovered; and it was most important to ascertain whether they belonged to the same period as the extinct animals. Unfortunately, no distinct evidence could be obtained respecting the exact positions in which the bones were found, as they had been purchased from dealers. It was the first instance of human remains having been discovered in Kent's Hole, and they were encrusted with stalagmite, which might have proved their great antiquity. He hoped the members present would not be silent when such important evidence was laid before them. The CHAIRMAN (Mr. G. Witt) observed, that the papers which had been read, though very interesting, were not, perhaps, calculated to produce much discussion. They would be very valuable when recorded in the Journal of the Society. The meeting then adjourned to the 14th inst. |