and in the Neanderthal near Elberfeld, mnst have been extensively spread—being allied, as may be presumed from the form of the skull, with the aboriginal populations of Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia. Whilst at Schwaan the bones were deposited in a Germanic grave of stone, and consequently are brought into relation with the historical period, the bones from Plau, on the contrary, were merely laid in the sand, together with implements of bone of the rudest kind. The Minsk skull, in like manner, was found in the sand of an ancient river-bed. But the human bones and cranium from the Neanderthal exceed all the rest in those peculiarities of conformation which lead to the conclusion of their belonging to a barbarous and savage race. Whether the cavern in which they were found, unaccompanied with any trace of human art, were the place of their interment, or whether, like the bones of extinct animals elsewhere, they had been washed into it, they may still be regarded as the most ancient memorial of the early inhabitants of Europe.
Remarks.
The fact of the geological antiquity of Man, or, to use other words, of his having been cotemporary with extinct animals whose remains are universally regarded by geologists as "fossil," has apparently been fully established, though rather, perhaps, from the discovery of his works than of his actual remains, under certain geological conditions. It has become a matter, therefore, among others, of extreme interest to determine how far it may be possible, from the scanty remains of his bones as yet discovered, to ascertain whether, and in what respects, the priscan race or races may have differed from those which at present inhabit the earth.
Although the materials as yet in our possession are far too scanty to allow of any satisfactory solution of this difficult question, they are sufficient, perhaps, to allow of its being entered upon. It is with this view that we reproduce the interesting paper by Professor Schaaffhausen, which incidentally treats upon the question at large, and contains a considerable amount of information respecting it.
The human remains there described were discovered under circumstances which, though not altogether demonstrative of their real geological position, leave no doubt of their enormous antiquity, and of the probability of their having belonged to what has been termed the quaternary period. The conformation of the cranium, moreover, in this instance is so remarkable, as justly to excite the utmost interest, approaching as it does in one respect that of some of the higher apes. It remains, consequently, a subject of the deepest importance for future discoveries to determine whether the conformation in question be merely an individual peculiarity, or a typical character. The peculiarity consists in a remarkable prominence or projection of the superciliary region of the forehead; for the enlargement in this part is so
