Page:Medical jurisprudence (IA medicaljurisprud03pari).pdf/96

there are not bones in the structures of inferior animals, that so nearly approach those of the human species in figure and appearance as to admit the possibility of their being mistaken for them, by the superficial anatomist? It must be admitted that there does exist a similitude in the skeletons of different animals, of which the common observer cannot derive the least notion from the shape of the parts they sustain, or from the general aspect of their external form. Bats, for instance, appear to have wings, but an attentive examination demonstrates that they are real hands, the fingers of which are merely somewhat lengthened; still, however, it is the bones of quadrupeds that can alone be mistaken for those of man, and of these the cylindrical ones are the most likely to mislead us; for example, the Humerus varies little in its form, except perhaps in the proportional length of the bone, and the elevation of its spines: the Ruminantia, in general, have the great tuberosity very high, and the linea aspera very prominent. To Cuvier we are much indebted for the marks of discrimination by which we may determine to what genus of animal the isolated parts of a skeleton belong; and his researches have changed the opinion regarding the character of many organic remains. Most of the labourers in the Gypsum quarries about Paris are firmly persuaded that the bones which they contain are, in a great part, human remains; but, after having seen and carefully examined many thousands of them, Cuvier unequivocally declares that not a single fragment has ever belonged to our species. Another similar discovery has been made by this illustrious anatomist, in the history of the extraneous fossil bones from the island of Cerigo, and deposited by Spallanzani at Pavia as human