قراءة كتاب On Some Fossil Remains of Man

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On Some Fossil Remains of Man

On Some Fossil Remains of Man

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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description of these circumstances, I borrow the following account of them from one of his letters. 'A small cave or grotto, high enough to admit a man, and about 15 feet deep from the entrance, which is 7 or 8 feet wide, exists in the southern wall of the gorge of the Neanderthal, as it is termed, at a distance of about 100 feet from the Dussel, and about 60 feet above the bottom of the valley. In its earlier and uninjured condition, this cavern opened upon a narrow plateau lying in front of it, and from which the rocky wall descended almost perpendicularly into the river. It could be reached, though with difficulty, from above. The uneven floor was covered to a thickness of 4 or 5 feet with a deposit of mud, sparingly intermixed with rounded fragments of chert. In the removing of this deposit, the bones were discovered. The skull was first noticed, placed nearest to the entrance of the cavern; and further in, the other bones, lying in the same horizontal plane. Of this I was assured, in the most positive terms, by two labourers who were employed to clear out the grotto, and who were questioned by me on the spot. At first no idea was entertained of the bones being human; and it was not till several weeks after their discovery that they were recognised as such by me, and placed in security. But, as the importance of the discovery was not at the time perceived, the labourers were very careless in the collecting, and secured chiefly only the larger bones; and to this circumstance it may be attributed that fragments merely of the probably perfect skeleton came into my possession.'

"My anatomical examination of these bones afforded the following results:—

"The cranium is of unusual size, and of a long elliptical form. A most remarkable peculiarity is at once obvious in the extraordinary development of the frontal sinuses, owing to which the superciliary ridges, which coalesce completely in the middle, are rendered so prominent, that the frontal bone exhibits a considerable hollow or depression above, or rather behind them, whilst a deep depression is also formed in the situation of the root of the nose. The forehead is narrow and low, though the middle and hinder portions of the cranial arch are well developed. Unfortunately, the fragment of the skull that has been preserved consists only of the portion situated above the roof of the orbits and the superior occipital ridges, which are greatly developed, and almost conjoined so as to form a horizontal eminence. It includes almost the whole of the frontal bone, both parietals, a small part of the squamous and the upper-third of the occipital. The recently fractured surfaces show that the skull was broken at the time of its disinterment. The cavity holds 16,876 grains of water, whence its cubical contents may be estimated at 57.64 inches, or 1033.24 cubic centimetres. In making this estimation, the water is supposed to stand on a level with the orbital plate of the frontal, with the deepest notch in the squamous margin of the parietal, and with the superior semicircular ridges of the occipital. Estimated in dried millet-seed, the contents equalled 31 ounces, Prussian Apothecaries' weight. The semicircular line indicating the upper boundary of the attachment of the temporal muscle, though not very strongly marked, ascends nevertheless to more than half the height of the parietal bone. On the right superciliary ridge is observable an oblique furrow or depression, indicative of an injury received during life. 7

                                                  mm. 8
   The length of the skull from the nasal
   process of the frontal over the vertex
   to the superior semicircular lines of the
   occipital measures.............................303 (300) = 12.0".
   Circumference over the orbital ridges and
   the superior semicircular lines of the
   occipital......................................590 (590) = 23.37" or 23".
   Width of the frontal from the middle of
   the temporal line on one side to the
   same point on the opposite.....................104 (114) = 4.1"—4.5".
   Length of the frontal from the nasal.
   process to the coronal suture..................133 (125) = 5.25"—5".
   Extreme width of the frontal sinuses...........25 (23) = 1.0"—0.9".
   Vertical height above a line joining the
   deepest notches in the squamous border
   of the parietals...............................70        = 2.75".
   Width of hinder part of skull from one
   parietal protuberance to the other.............138 (150) = 5.4"—5.9"
   Distance from the upper angle of the
   occipital to the superior semicircular
   lines..........................................51 (60) = 1.9"—2.4".
   Thickness of the bone at the parietal
   protuberance...................................8.
   —at the angle of the occipital................9.
   —at the superior semicircular line of
   the occipital..................................10          = 0.3"

"Besides the cranium, the following bones have been secured:—

"1. Both thigh-bones, perfect. These, like the skull, and all the other bones, are characterized by their unusual thickness, and the great development of all the elevations and depressions for the attachment of muscles. In the Anatomical Museum at Bonn, under the designation of 'Giant's-bones,' are some recent thigh-bones, with which in thickness the foregoing pretty nearly correspond, although they are shorter.

                                            Giant's bones.    Fossil bones.
                                                    mm.               mm.
   Length.....................................542 = 21.4"......438 = 17.4"
   Diameter of head of femur.................. 54 =  2.14"..... 53 = 2.0"
       "    of lower articular end, from
      one condyle to the other................ 89 = 3.5"....... 87 = 3.4"
   Diameter of femur in the middle............ 33 = 1.2"....... 30 = 1.1"
"2. A perfect right humerus, whose size shows that it belongs to the
thigh-bones.                                                            mm.
             Length.....................................312 = 12.3"
             Thickness in the middle.................... 26 = 1.0"
             Diameter of head........................... 49 = 1.9"

"Also a perfect right radius of corresponding dimensions, and the upper-third of a right ulna corresponding to the humerus and radius.

"3. A left humerus of which the upper-third is wanting, and which is so much slenderer than the right as apparently to belong to a distinct individual; a left 'ulna', which, though complete, is pathologically deformed, the coronoid process being so much enlarged by bony growth, that flexure of the elbow beyond a right angle must have been impossible; the anterior fossa of the humerus for the reception of the coronoid process being also filled up with a similar bony growth. At the same time, the olecranon is curved strongly downwards. As the bone presents no sign of rachitic degeneration, it may be supposed that an injury sustained during life was the cause of the anchylosis. When the left ulna is compared with

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