Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 1.djvu/508

Rh tool, excepting a few holes that bad evidently been made to assist in raising it. The situation of the skeleton in the block was so superﬁcial, that it had probably been discovered by the projection of a part of the left fore-arm. Nevertheless, the operation of laying the whole open to view, with all the care that was requisite for its preservation, was attended with very considerable diﬁiculty, on account of the excessive hardness of the stone adjacent to the bones, and the comparative softness of the bones themselves.

Unfortunately the skull is wanting; and the author, with much reason, regrets the loss of this characteristic part, which by its form might have thrown some light on the period when it was deposited, or at least as to the nation to whom the individual belonged. The vertebra: of the neck are also lost along with the head; the thorax bears marks of violent compression. The seven ribs of the left side are complete, but dislocated. Those of the right side are all broken; and their extremities are found on the left side of the spine. Such parts of the arms and legs as remain, are found in their natural po— sition; but many are entirely wanting. and most are broken, or otherwise imperfect.

The bones are thought to have acquired a degree of hardness since their ﬁrst exposure, though still far inferior to that of the surrounding stone. A small portion of one of the bones examined by Sir Hum- phry Davy was found to contain a part of its animal matter, and the whole of its phosphate of lime. The rock in which they are imbedded consists of a calcareous sand, ﬁrmly agglutinated. Some of the grains appear to be portions of compact limestone; others are particles of zoophytes; some white, others yellowish; and many which are red in various degrees appear to be fragments of Millqmra miniacea. Some shells are also found, but in no great number; one of them much re— sembles Helix ucuta of Martin; and another is a Turbo, the species of which is not yet determined. The only bony substance observed beside the skeleton itself, has a concentric laminated structure, and appears to be part of a tusk, but from what animal cannot be ascer- tained. There are also here and there a few weeks of a black sub- stance that has the properties of charcoal.

By the workmen employed in exposing the skeleton, the stone is thought to be harder than statuary marble, by the degree of impression made by their saw or chisel. Its formation appears to be similar to that of common sandstone, only that the grains of which it is composed are calcareous, and have in same parts become conﬂuent, particularly in the parts adjacent to the bones, and in these parts Dr. Thomson has found traces of phosphoric acid. From all the circumstances, it is pretty evident that the injury which the bones have sustained has occurred subsequently to their deposition, and before the sand in which they lie had concreted into the present stony substance.

With respect to the period at which this may have happened, the author thinks it impossible to pronounce with decision. It may be of-very recent formation, but there is nothing which necessarily im-