Description of the skull of the Guadaloupe fossil human skeleton / by James Moultrie ; with introductory remarks by C.U. Shepard.

  • Moultrie, James, Jr., 1793-1869.
Date:
[1837]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of the skull of the Guadaloupe fossil human skeleton / by James Moultrie ; with introductory remarks by C.U. Shepard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    J Description df the Skull, fyc Art. XXI.—Description of the Skull of the Guadaloupe Fossil Human Skeleton; by James Moultrie, M. D., Professor of Physiology in the Medical College of the State of South Carolina : with introductory remarks; by C. U. Shepard, M. D. My attention was called during the last winter to some portions of a human fossil in the museum of the Literary and Philosophical So- ciety of South Carolina by Mr. John D. Legare, by whom I was informed that they were brought from Gaudaloupe and were un- doubted parts of the much valued skeleton in the British Museum, of which so faithful a description was given by Mr. Konig in the Philosophical Transactions for 1814, vol. civ. p. 101. Having re- ceived from Mr. Konig many years since a sample of the block in which the skeleton was imbedded, I was able on the first inspection to satisfy myself, that a perfect identity subsisted between the enga- ging rock in both instances; and on recurring to the paper of Mr. Konig, it appeared that the portions here existing are among those in which the British sample is deficient, viz. the cranial bones and the lower part of a thigh bone. It struck me as being an important inquiry to ascertain if possible from an examination of the shape of the skull, whether the received opinion respecting the Carib origin of the individual were correct; for although the determination of this point, is not likely to carry back the antiquity of the specimen to a very remote period, in opposition to the manifestly recent mineral character of the rock in which it is found, still the result may give it a more ancient date than has been attributed to it, and possibly throw important light on the connection of American races hereto- fore considered as distinct. I accordingly desired my colleagues, Dr. Moultrie and Dr. Holbrook, to bestow upon the skull a careful examination, with which request they were very ready to comply. The result as drawn up for publication by the former gentleman, constitutes the following paper. C. U. Shepard. Charleston, May 30th, 1837. These precious remains, were brought from Guadaloupe by Mons. L'Herminiere, a naturalist, and placed (together with many- other specimens relating to natural history,) in the museum of the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina in August 1816, from whom it was purchased, (in common with his collection) the succeeding November. They consist of five fragments of dif- Vol. XXXII.—No. 2. 46