628 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899
In cutting away the incrusting material, several fragments of bones were found : some that might have belonged to the same individual to whom the skull pertained, while others evidently belonged to a smaller person. Besides these there were bones of some small mammal, a small snail shell of the species Helix tnormonum, a small wampum or shell bead, and some bits of charcoal.
Chemical examinations by Mr Sharpless developed the fact that nearly all the organic matter of the bone had disappeared and a large portion of the phosphate of lime had been replaced by the carbonate, indicating a fossilized condition ; a trace only of or- ganic matter remained. From Dr Wyman's report, published in Whitney's paper, we learn: 1st, "That the skull presents no signs of having belonged to an inferior race. In its breadth it agrees with the other crania from California, except those of the Diggers, but surpasses them in the other particulars in which comparisons have been made. This is especially obvious in the greater prominence of the forehead and the capacity of its cham- ber. 2nd, In so far as it differs in dimensions from the other crania from California, it approaches the Esquimaux." (P. 273^)
Portions of the above statements will be referred to in some detail farther on.
Information from Local Sources. — During my short visit to the district I found only a few men who could claim personal knowledge of the skull and of the people most directly concerned in its discovery and immediately subsequent history. Scribner and Jones are dead, and others have removed from the district. At Big Trees, eighteen miles above Murphy's, I found Mr J. L. Sperry, who kept the hotel at Murphy's and was Whitney's host while the latter was visiting that section. He proved to be a good friend of the Professor, and a believer in the correctness of his views regarding the skull. His hotel faced the office of Dr Jones, to whom the skull was sent from Scribner's, and he told me that one day as he was standing in the door of his hotel Dr
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