bours examined, resources of islands and countries investigated-and from the permanent footing on which intercourse with the Pacific islands has been placed by the settlement of long standing difficulties, and the ratification of treaties, and the impression produced by an armed force, more than repay for expenditures. The expedition has performed the duties of an ordinary squadron in the Pacific, and has accomplished in this way manyfold more in that ocean than any squadron that ever left our country; and if the expenses of keeping the vessels in commission are cancelled on this score, the sum which remains for the extraordinary duties performed will be but small.

But while we render to those whose labours have obtained the results of the expedition their full due credit, we cannot forget that there are others, and one in particular, whose zeal and untiring exertions in planning, and urging forward to its completion, this enterprise, deserve more than a passing acknowledgment. M. J. N. Reynolds was left behind, yet though unrewarded for his efforts by the pleasure of accompanying the expedition and adding to its laurels, his distinguished merits will not be forgotten or disregarded by his countrymen. -The American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. xliv., No. 2, p. 393.

On the occurrence of Fossil Human Bones of the præhistorical World in South America.

This notice is an extract* from a letter of Dr Lund of Lagoa Santa, South America, who, for the last six years, has been engaged in examining the animal remains found in the chalk caves of the interior of Brazil, and is now publishing a work in the Danish language, which bears the title, Blik paa Brasiliens Dyreverdu, &c., or, "A glance at the animal creation which inhabited Brazil immediately before the present geological epoch, and the now existing order of things."

*The above extract was communicated to Professor Silliman, by the Rev. E. E. Salisbury, Professor of Oriental Languages in Yale College, and inserted in the forty-fourth volume of the American Journal of Science and the Arts.

The information it contains is, indeed, nothing decisive as to the existence of the human species, contemporaneously with those great extinct animals whose remains are found fossilized in the earth's strata. But, as relating to the first instance of the discovery of human bones in a fossil state, it is of some interest. After mentioning that, up to the date of his letter, he had discovered in 200 chalk caves of Brazil, 115 species of mammalia, of which not more than 88 are now known to exist there, the writer proceeds :

"In the midst of these numerous proofs of an order of things quite different from the present, I yet have never found the slightest trace of the existence of man. I supposed, therefore, that this question was decided, that human bones nowhere occur, when unexpectedly, after six years toil, I had the good fortune to find these bones; and, indeed, under circumstances which admit of speaking with some certainty in favour of their occurring again. These bones I fell upon in a cave, mingled with the bones of decidedly extinct animals, as, for example, of the Platyonyx Bucklandii, Chlamydotherium Humboldtii, C. Majus, Dasypus sulcatus, Hydrochorus sulcidens, &c., which directed my whole attention to these remarkable remains. Besides, they all bore the stamp of genuine fossil bones, inasmuch as they were partly converted to stone, and partly impregnated with small particles of the oxide of iron, which not only gave them an extraordinary weight, but even to some of them a metallic glistening. As to the great age of these bones no doubt can exist; but whether they date from the times of those animals, with the bones of which they were found lying together, in company, is a question which does not admit of being determined with equal certainty, since the cave is on the edge of a lake, by which the waters are yearly driven into it in the rainy season. Not only, therefore, might animal remains by degrees come there, but those brought there by the flowing of the water at later periods might also mingle with the earlier. This supposition has, in fact, received confirmation, in that, among the bones of extinct animals, there are also those of races still living. The condition of the latter, too, of which some appear to differ little from fresh bones, leads to this view, while others have reached the half metallic

state spoken of, and between the two sorts a third and more numerous variety is distinguishable, which has reached a middle state in decomposition. A similar difference was observed also in the human bones, by which their varying gradations of age are clearly manifested. Yet all are so altered, as well in their constituent parts as in the joining, that one cannot deny them a high antiquity; and even should they not have come there contemporaneously with the bones of extinct animal races, still they have a sufficient interest in this respect. From the investigations of European students of nature, it results, that no land animal, of which the bones appear in a truly fossil state, has lived within our historical period, and that they, consequently, mount up over 3000 years. If this conclusion is applied also to the human bones existing in a like state, they too are of a like antiquity. Since, however, the process of fossilization is as yet little known, especially if the time necessary to this transformation comes into question; and, if it is true that this time varies according to circumstances, we can attain only to a very indefinite approximation. Be it nevertheless as it may, in any case these bones must have a high antiquity, not only far outreaching the discovery of America, but even surpassing all historical documents of our race, since up to this time no fossilized human bones have been before met with. But hence it results, that Brazil was peopled at a very remote period, and probably before our historical era; and the inquiries which therefore urge themselves upon us are these: Who were these oldest inhabitants? from what race were they descended? and what was their manner of life, and their natural quality of mind. Happily, these questions may be easily solved. Being in possession of several more or less perfect skulls, I was able to define the position which they have occupied in the anthropological system; and, in fact, the narrow head, the prominent cheek-bones, the angle of the face, the formation of the jaw and of the cavities of the eyes, shew that those skulls belong to the American race. The Mongolian tribes come, as is well known, the nearest to it, and the most striking difference between the two is the greater flattening of the head in the former species. In this point the discovered skulls not only accord with those of the American tribes, but some

of them are to such a degree pressed in, that the forehead almost entirely disappears. It is known, that the human figures which were sculptured upon the ancient Mexican monuments are of a wholly peculiar conformation, and that the cranium, retreating backwards, was made to disappear immediately above the eyes. This anomaly, which in general is ascribed either to an artificial disfiguring of the head, or to the taste of the artists, thus receives a natural explanation, since it is proved that a race of men lived in these regions which possessed this conformation of the head.* The skeletons found belonged to both sexes, and were of ordinary size, though two male skeletons shewed a larger size. After these brief observations on the corporeal constitution of the primitive inhabitants of Brazil, we will also take into consideration their probable mental condition, and the degree of their cultivation. Since now it is proved that the development of the mental powers stands in direct relation to that of the brain, it follows, from the formation of the skulls found, that the intellectual life of their possessors must have played a very inferior part, and that their progress in arts and crafts must have been in the highest degree meagre. This inference is confirmed by the discovery of an utensil of the most imperfect make, which lay buried alongside of the skeletons. It was a semi-spherical hornstone of ten inches in circumference, which was worn smooth on the flat side, and evidently must have served to bruise seeds and other hard substances. As it cannot be my object, on this occasion, to make a thorough exposition of the present subject, a labour which I give over to abler hands, I have merely to observe farther, that I have found human fossil bones in two other caves also, which were almost without any gelatinous part, and therefore easily friable, and shewed a white fracture. Unfortunately, however, they did not occur with other animal bones, so that the question of chief importance, in respect to the longer existence of the human race on this earth, remains still undecided."

* It is still probable, however, that this configuration of cranium was the result of artificial causes. (Professor Silliman.)

Report on M. Alcide d'Orbigny's Memoir, entitled General Considerations on the Geology of South America. By M. ELIE DE BEAUMONT.

Regarded as a whole, the portion of the American Continent situated to the south of the equator, exhibits a great variety of orographical configuration. On the east we have an immense group of low mountains, forming a mass whose branches extend from some degrees south of the Line as far as the mouth of La Plata; while on the west, we have the Cordillera, whose elevated summits commence near the Straits of Magellan, and extend into Columbia, forming a ridge which follows different directions, and from which rise the highest peaks of the New World. Between these two great systems, commencing from the south of Patagonia, a nearly level plain skirts the Cordillera, occupies the intervening space comprised between that important chain and the mountain mass of Brazil, passes from the basin of the Plata into that of the Amazon, afterwards expands to the east, and embraces to a long distance the two banks of that vast river.

Gneiss Formation.-In South America, as over the surface of the whole globe, the rocks which constitute the first formations of the series of stratified rocks are crystalline; they are chiefly gneiss. These rocks are especially developed in the eastern part of the Continent, where the modern geological products are less prevalent than in the western. All geologists who have visited Rio Janeiro have pointed out the gneiss formation. Messrs Clausen and Pissis have ascertained its existence over the greater part of the surface comprised between the course of the Rio San-Francisco and the sea, from the 16th to the 27th degree of southern latitude. M. d'Orbigny has found it again at Maldonado, at Monte-Video, and in the Banda Orientale. M. Parchappe recognised it in the chain of the Tandil. M. d'Orbigny discovered an immense belt of the same rock, occupying a mean breadth of half a degree, having a length of upwards of 340 English miles, and traversing the whole province of Chiquitos.

The old rocks are almost every where composed of the same elements; and these are, at Rio-Janeiro and in the pro