oddings' of that
country.

The correspondence between the longitudinal contour of the Neanderthal
skull and that of some of those skulls from the tumuli at Borreby, very
accurate drawings of which have been made by Mr. Busk, is very close.
The occiput is quite as retreating, the supraciliary ridges are nearly
as prominent, and the skull is as low. Furthermore, the Borreby skull
resembles the Neanderthal form more closely than any of the Australian
skulls do, by the much more rapid retrocession of the forehead. On the
other hand, the Borreby skulls are all somewhat broader, in proportion
to their length, than the Neanderthal skull, while some attain
that proportion of breadth to length (80:100) which constitutes
brachycephaly.

In conclusion, I may say, that the fossil remains of Man hitherto
discovered do not seem to me to take us appreciably nearer to that lower
pithecoid form, by the modification of which he has, probably, become
what he is. And considering what is now known of the most ancient races
of men; seeing that they fashioned flint axes and flint knives and
bone-skewers, of much the same pattern as those fabricated by the lowest
savages at the present day, and that we have every reason to believe the
habits and modes of living of such people to have remained the same from
the time of the Mammoth and the tichorhine Rhinoceros till now, I do not
know that this result is other than might be expected.

Where, then, must we look for primaeval Man? Was the oldest 'Homo
sapiens' pliocene or miocene, or yet more ancient? In still older
strata do the fossilized bones of an Ape more anthropoid, or a Man
more pithecoid, than any yet known await the researches of some unborn
paleontologist?

Time will show. But, in the meanwhile, if any form of the doctrine of
progressive development is correct, we must extend by long epochs the
most liberal estimate that has yet been made of the antiquity of Man.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Decas Collectionis suae craniorum diversarum gentium
illustrata. Gottingae, 1790-1820.]

[Footnote 2: In a subsequent passage, Schmerling remarks upon the
occurrence of an incisor tooth 'of enormous size' from the caverns of
Engihoul. The tooth figured is somewhat long, but its dimensions do not
appear to me to be otherwise remarkable.]

[Footnote 3: The figure of this clavicle measures 5 inches from end to
end in a straight line--so that the bone is rather a small than a large
one.]