Devonshire.——At the Devon Assizes in March, 1800, a Bill was preferred before the Grand Jury against Thomas Bowerman, for the Murder of Mary Gollop, a Bastard Child of Sarah his Wife, by another man, previous to her marriage, at the parish of Uffculme, in the said County.

Mary Gollop lived with her mother, the wife of Thomas Bowerman, in Bowerman’s house, at Uffculme, and had been often noticed on account of the ill treatment she was known to experience from Thomas Bowerman. About Michaelmas, 1797, being then about fourteen years of age, she was reported to have died suddenly in her father’s house, and she was accordingly buried on the first day of October, 1797, in the church-yard of Uffculme.

In January, 1800, Thomas Bowerman was committed to the Devon Bridewell, at the suit of the overseers of the poor of Uffculme, on a conviction for having ran away and left his children chargeable to the parish of Uffculme. His wife was at that time dead, and Elizabeth, one of his children, about twelve years old, had been removed to the parish workhouse, and was there maintained at the expense of the parish. Elizabeth Stark, the mistress of the workhouse, in a conversation with Elizabeth Bowerman, mentioned to her, that on her father’s return from Bridewell, after the expiration of his sentence, she would be sent to her father’s house to be by him maintained and clothed. Elizabeth Bowerman burst into tears, saying she could never again live with her father if he did return, as she was afraid he would murder her as he did her sister. She then stated that her father killed her sister, Mary Gollop, by pushing an awl into her head. She saw him do it, and he made her mother and herself wipe up the blood, and said he would serve her the same if ever she told of it.

Mrs. Stark remonstrated with Elizabeth Bowerman on the incredibility of her story; but in spite of all admonition, she persisted in asserting the truth of her statements, repeated without variance the particulars of the case, and pointed out the part near the ear where the perforation had been made. On the prevalence of this report, in the month of February, 1800, it was judged expedient by the parishioners to consult the Coroner, who ordered the disinterment of the body of Mary Gollop, and held an inquest, by whom the skull was inspected, on which was found a small hole of the size of an awl on the side of the head near the ear, in the place that Elizabeth Bowerman had pointed out.

The Jury thereupon returned against Thomas Bowerman a verdict of Wilful Murder.

The circumstances of this case excited the attention of the late Mr. Sheldon, then living in Exeter. He obtained access to the skull, and on viewing it declared his opinion that the hole in the skull, supposed to have been made by an awl, was a natural perforation, and had not been effected by an awl or any other instrument; and as proofs of his position, he pointed out a small bed or channel leading from the hole, which he said was made by the passage of a vein, and a sort of enamel round the hole, which could not have been there if made by force or art. In further illustration of this truth, he produced a dozen or more human skulls having on them similar perforations variously situated, and each hole having a small channel, and the rim or edge of the hole smooth and polished.

Mr. Sheldon attended the Grand Jury at the said assizes on the investigation of this charge: before whom it is presumed he gave the same testimony. The Grand Jury returned “No Bill” against Thomas Bowerman for the murder of Mary Gollop.

Another question of forensic interest has arisen upon this subject that requires some notice. Whether 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 remains, but of which he affirms there is not one that ever formed a part of the human skeleton; the same tact, if we may so express this peculiar merit of Cuvier, enabled him to decypher the “Homo Diluvii Testis” of Scheutzer, and to restore it to its true genus, the Proteus.

We shall close our remarks upon the fallacies by which the bones of quadrupeds have been mistaken for those of man, by the interesting account of the remains which were found by Belzoni in a sarcophagus in the second pyramid of Egypt, and for a detailed relation of which we are indebted to Captain Fitzclarence, in his overland route from India. These bones were believed to be no other than the remains of King Cephrenes, who, according to Herodotus, is supposed to have built the pyramid, and to have been buried in its cavern; unfortunately, however, for the antiquarian’s conjecture, Mr. Clift, of the College of Surgeons, has satisfactorily proved that the bones in question are not human, but belong to an animal of the genus Bos.