The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-17 00:00:00

OLD ,131 ERIC

DISCOVERY OF A HUMAN SKULL IN CALIFORNIA 200
FEET BENEATH ROCK.
The summer meeting of the American National
Academy was held in "Massachusetts during the last
week in August, and the following is the list of
papers offered to be read during the present sitting:
—Topography and Topographical Work, west of
the 103 d Meridian ; by Professor J. 1). Whitney,
of San Francisco, California. Deep Sea Dredg-
ing in the Gulf Stream ; by L. L. Poarteles. A
New and General Method of Developing the
Real Roofs of an Equation ; by Theodore Strong.
Tides and Tidal Currents in an Estuary or a Canal
between two Tidal Basins ; by Professor Peirce of
Cambridge. Chemical Investigations of Petroleum
and Theories of its Origin ; by P. F. Peckham, pre-
sented by Professor J. D. Whitney. The Distribu-
tion of Forest Vegetation west of the Rocky Moun-
tains ; by W. H. Brown. Subdivisions of the Cre-
taceous and Marine Tertiary formation in Califor-
nia ; by W. M. Gabb. Notes on the Origin of
Bitumens, together with experiments on the forma-
tion of Asphaltum ;byW. M. Gabb. Remarks on
Mr. Airy's reduction of Kirchhoff's scale ; by Pro-
fessor Wolcott Gibbs. On the Constitution of
Uric Acid, and its derivations ; by the same. New
Methods of Analytical Chemis try ; by the same.
On the Reputed Occurrence of human bones at An-
telope station on the Union Pacific Railroad ; by
J. C. Marsh.
Professor J. D. Whitney read a paper of great
interest " On the Discovery of the Human Skull in
Calaveras County, California." We extract the
report from the Spring field Republican :—" The
skull, as your readers know, was discovered in
February, 1866, in a mine belonging to Scribner
and Matterson ; it lay imbedded in a mass of
" cement," or gravelly detritus near the bottom of
a deep shaft, which had been sunk vertically about
200 feet, through a hill of the hardest rock ; near it
was a piece of petrified oak ; when found, its real
nature was hardly discoverable, and the finder
supposed it might be part of the root of a fossil
tre,. Dr. William Jones, the leading physician
and surgeon of that region, in June, 1866, wrote
to the State Geologist, stating the facts about
this discovery. Professor Whitney shortly after
this came in possession of the skull, and has
himself visited, on several occasions, the locality
where it was found. All the geological pheno-
mena of the region correspond to the statements of
Scribner and Matterson, Dr. Jones and the miners,
about the discovery. It was impracticable for
Professor Whitney or his assistants to go to the
bottom of the shaft, where the discovery was made,
it being full of water, but they carefully ques-
tioned the miners about the minute details of the
finding of this bony wonder. The testimony was
most explicit, and they were quite without motive
to falsehood, knowing, as they did, nothing about
the bearing of the matter scientifically, or its refe-
rence to the question of the antiquity of man.
Mr. Matterson took the skull with his own hand
from " Bed No. 8," encased as it was in cement or
gravel, and lying in the channel of an ancient river
bed. The lower jaw, the entire parietal and occipital
parts, and the lover part of the base are gone. The
frontal bone is almost entire, as are the bones of
the face. It is evidently the skull of an aged per-
son, as the condition of the teeth aid in showing. It
was covered with a thin incrustation of calcareous
tufa when discovered, and not till a few weeks since
was any change made in its condition, when Pro-
fessor Whitney chiselled away the tufa from its
surface. A small circular piece of shell is attached
to the skull, which might have once served as an
ornament. It is evidently no ordinary skull picked
up at random; it has the appearance of having been
violently broken in the thickest part; it was probably
swept away from the place of original deposit by
the action of water; the position in which it was
found seems to Professor 'Whitney conclusive proof
of an antiquity far exceeding that of the historic
Adam. Dr. Wyman has examined the skull with
special reference to its ethnological relations, or
its kindred with the skull shapes of living
races. lie found it large in the frontal re-
gion, the face somewhat deformed, the region over
the orbits strongly marked, the molar or cheek
bones prominent. He says it presents no sign of
belonging to a race inferior to the race now-inha-
biting California ; wherein it differs, it approxi-
mates the characteristics of the Esquimaux. It was
found imbedded in the fresh water tertiary deposits
of the Sierra Nevada, and as far as geological data
now ascertained bear witness, it is probably coeval,
in origin with the formation of the very ancient
deposit. This scientific hypothesis, if established,
would show that this broken-headed antiquity, an-
tedated by many, many ages, the good old times of
Eden ; perhaps the owner of this skull then was
the original sinner ; indeed, his remains look as
though he might have been a " hard case." The
skull was found in the same deposit with the fossil
bones of the mastodon and other extinct species of
animals; a still further corroboration of the hypo-
tbesis in question. Professor Whitney classes the
formation in which the skull was found in the
pliocene division, and thinks it not too bold for an
American geologist to speculate about a pliocene
man, when the Europeans are beginning to fellow-
ship in thought with a miocene man. Professor
Whitney exhibited also a large number of other
fossil specimens from the Sierra Nevada region ;
among them a number of species quite now to
the geologist ; in addition, he was able to show
to the academy a number of Indian relics, just
obtained at Holyoke, where an extensive Indian
burial ground had just been opened in the exca-
vations for a new road ; some copper utensils were
among these relics, and some articles quite unknown
among earlier discoveries of this sort.
Dr. Newbury, of Detroit, followed with a few
forceful words. Ho felt that it was too soon for
a thorough discussion of- this important question,
since the data were not complete nor of final
authority. A species of the existing flora was
found with this skull, showing that it was not
impossible that it belonged to the same class as
here found in caves, and plainly not pre-Adamic.
Professor Whitney considered it proved that this
skull could not be so classified. Professor Guyot
was satisfied with the truth of all the circum-
stances cited, and yet did not feel that they forced
us back, by necessity, to an antiquity much, if at
all, greater than the limit of historic data. Accord-
ing to geological testimony it was altogether pro-
bable that the historic human race had been con-
temporary with the mastodon and some other now
extinct species of animals. lie believed more scien-
tific proof necessary to a rational conviction of the
existence of the pre-historic skull in question. Dr.
Newbury said u few words controverting what he
regarded as the too easily chosen position of Pro-
fessor Guyot. Professor Lesley also made an argu-
ment of some length in opposition to Professor
Guyot. Professor Brewer said a few words i❑ con-
firmation of the position taken by Professor Whit-
ney, drawing his argument from actual observations
made by himself in regard to the gravel fromwhich
the skull had been taken.

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7HE LAW OF MARRIAGE.

NOTICE AND RESIDENCE.

The period of residence to be required from each
of the parties to be married in the parishes or
districts where they respectively give notice of
their intention to intermarry, before they can re-
ceive a certificate of compliance with the legal
preliminaries, ought, we think (ordinarily), to be
fifteen days after notice given, in cases where the
party giving the notice is personally known to the
minister or officer receiving it, and when both
parties profess themselves to be of the rame reli-
gious persuasion, and do not signify their wish to
be married by a minister, or according to the
usage, of any other persuasion. If these condi-
tions are not all fulfilled, we think it should
(ordinarily) be the duty of the minister or officer
to withhold his certificate tilt after the expiration
of twenty-one days from the date of the notice.
At the end of the time limited, if all other legal
requisites have been duly complied with, a certifi-
cate of compliance (which should, in a'l cases,
state the date of the notice, and whether the tarty
is personally known to the certifying minister or
officer or not) should be given to each party ; and
it should not be lawful for any minister or civil
officer to solemnize marriage without the produc-
tion, by each party, of such certificate.
It has, however, been suggested to us, by wit
nesses from different parts of the United Kingdom,
that power ought to be given to some proper
authority to dispense, in proper cases, with the
ordinary length of notice and period of residence.
Such a power is exercised at present, in cases of
marriage by special licence, in the United Church
of England and Ire'and ; it is also (much more
extensively) used among the Irish Roman Catho-
lics ; and it is obvious that cases may frequently
occur in all classes of the community, in which
good reasons (though not always such as it would
be desirable to state upon the face of a certificate)
may exist for accelerating the time of marriage.

If such a power is intrusted, not to all those who
are authorised to give the ordinary certificate, but
only to a superior authority, when such an autho-
rity is provided by the organization of the particular
religious communion, and (in the absence of such
superior authority) to the superintendent or dis-
trict registrar, and if its exercise is strictly limited
to cases in which both the parties to be married
are certified to be of the same religious profEssion
by the officiating ministers (or by the official wit-
nesies, if they are Quakers or Jews) of the places
of worship, or synagogues, whi.:h they usually at-
tend, we think it may safely, and even advanta -
geously, be granted. We therefore propose that a
power of this nature should be given to the Bishops
of all Episcopal Churches (established or un-
established) organised under Bishops ; and to such
officers as may be nominated for that purpose by
the Presbyteries of all Presbyterian congregations
organized under Presbyteries ; and, in all other
cases, to the superintendent or district registrar.