Page:Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature.djvu/150

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144
FOSSIL REMAINS OF MAN.

alveoli and the teeth, shows that the molars had not yet pierced the gum. Detached milk molars and some fragments of a human skull, proceed from this same place. The figure 3, represents a human superior incisor tooth, the size of which is truly remarkable.[1]

Figure 4 is a fragment of a superior maxillary bone, the molar teeth of which are worn down to the roots.

I possess two vertebræ, a first and last dorsal.

A clavicle of the left side (see Plate III, fig. 1); although it belonged to a young individual, this bone shows that he must have been of great stature.[2]

Two fragments of the radius, badly preserved, do not indicate that the height of the man, to whom they belonged, exceeded five feet and a half.

As to the remains of the upper extremities, those which are in my possession, consist merely of a fragment of an ulna and of a radius (Plate III, fig. 5 and 6). Figure 2, Plate IV, represents a metacarpal bone, contained in the breccia, of which we have spoken; it was found in the lower part above the cranium: add to this some metacarpal bones, found at very different distances, half-a-dozen metatarsals, three phalanges of the hand, and one of the foot.

This is a brief enumeration of the remains of human bones collected in the cavern of Engis, which has preserved for us the remains of three individuals, surrounded by those of the Elephant, of the Rhinoceros, and of Carnivora of species unknown in the present creation."

  1. 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.
  2. 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.