"In human skulls, the superior curved ridge of the occipital bone and the occipital protuberance correspond, approximatively, with the level of the tentorium and with the lateral sinuses, and consequently with the inferior limit of the posterior lobes of the brain. At first, I found some difficulty in believing that a human brain could have its posterior lobes so flattened and diminished as must have been the case in the Neanderthal man, supposing the ordinary relation to obtain between the superior occipital ridges and the tentorium; but on my application, through Sir Charles Lyell, Dr. Fuhlrott, the possessor of the skull, was good enough not only to ascertain the existence of the lateral sinuses in their ordinary position, but to send convincing proofs of the fact, in excellent photographic views of the interior of the skull, exhibiting clear indications of these sinuses.
"There can be no doubt that, as Professor Schaaffhausen and Mr. Busk have stated, this skull is the most brutal of all known human skulls, resembling those of the apes not only in the prodigious development of the superciliary prominences and the forward extension of the orbits, but still more in the depressed form of the brain-case, in the straightness of the squamosal suture, and in the complete retreat of the occiput forwards and upward, from the superior occipital ridges.
(FIGURE 4. OUTLINE OF THE SKULL OF AN ADULT CHIMPANZEE, OF THAT
FROM THE NEANDERTHAL, AND OF THAT OF A EUROPEAN, DRAWN TO THE SAME
ABSOLUTE SIZE, IN ORDER BETTER TO EXHIBIT THEIR RELATIVE
DIFFERENCES.
The superciliary region of the Neanderthal skull
appears less prominent than in Figure 3, as the contours are all
taken along the middle line where the superciliary projection of
the Neanderthal skull is least marked. a. The glabella. b. The
occipital protuberance, or the point on the exterior of each skull
which corresponds roughly with the attachment of the tentorium, or
with the inferior boundary of the posterior cerebral lobes.)
"But the cranium, in its present condition, is stated by Professor Schaaffhausen to contain 1033.24 cubic centimetres of water, or, in other words, about 63 English cubic inches. As the entire skull could hardly have held less than 12 cubic inches more, its minimum capacity may be estimated at 75 cubic inches. The most capacious healthy European skull yet measured had a capacity of 114 cubic inches, the smallest (as estimated by weight of brain) about 55 cubic inches, while, according to Professor Schaaffhausen, some Hindoo skulls have as small a capacity as about 46 cubic inches (27 ounces of water). The largest cranium of any Gorilla yet measured contained 34.5 cubic inches. The Neanderthal cranium stands, therefore, in capacity, very nearly on a level with the mean of the two human extremes, and very far above the pithecoid maximum.
(FIGURE 5. SKULL ASSOCIATED WITH GROUND FLINT IMPLEMENTS,
FROM A TUMULUS AT BORREBY IN DENMARK, AFTER A CAMERA LUCIDA
DRAWING BY MR. G. BUSK, F.R.S.
The thick dark line indicates so much of the skull as
corresponds with the fragment from the Neanderthal.
a. Superciliary ridge.
b. Coronal suture.
c. The apex of the lamboidal suture.
d. The occipital protuberance.
e. The auditory foramen.)
"Hence, even in the absence of the bones of the arm and thigh, which, according to Professor Schaaffhausen, had the precise proportions found in Man, although they were stouter than ordinary human bones, there could be no reason for ascribing this cranium to anything but a man; while the strength and development of the muscular ridges of the limb-bones are characters in perfect accordance with those exhibited, in a minor degree, by the bones of such hardy savages, exposed to a rigorous climate, as the Patagonians.