A Manual of the Antiquity of ManMacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)
History
A Manual of the Antiquity of Man
MacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)
Human beings -- Origin
"The front view shows that the roof of the skull was very regularly and
elegantly arched in the transverse direction, and that the transverse
diameter was a little less below the parietal protuberances, than above
them. The forehead cannot be called narrow in relation to the rest of
the skull, nor can it be called a retreating forehead; on the contrary,
the antero-posterior contour of the skull is well arched, so that the
distance along that contour, from the nasal depression to the occipital
protuberance, measures about 13.75 inches. The transverse arc of the
skull, measured from one auditory foramen to the other, across the
middle of the sagittal suture, is about 13 inches. The sagittal suture
itself is 5.5 inches long. The superciliary prominences or brow-ridges
(_a_) are well, but not excessively, developed, and are separated by a
median depression. Their principal elevation is disposed so obliquely
that I judge them to be due to large frontal sinuses. If a line joining
the glabella and the occipital protuberance (_a_, _d_, Fig. 8) be made
horizontal, no part of the occipital region projects more than one-tenth
of an inch behind the posterior extremity of that line, and the upper
edge of the auditory foramen is almost in contact with a line drawn
parallel with this upon the outer surface of the skull."[27]
Some of the views expressed by Professor Huxley are at variance with
those of other eminent scientists. Lubbock reports him as saying, "There
is no mark of degradation about any part of its structure. It is, in
fact, a fair average human skull, which might have belonged to a
philosopher, or might have contained the thoughtless brains of a
savage."[28] Mr. Busk agrees and partially disagrees with Professor
Huxley, for he remarked to Lyell, "Although the forehead was somewhat
narrow, it might nevertheless be matched by the skulls of individuals of
European race."[29]
Dr. Schmerling, Buchner, and Vogt are arrayed against Huxley. The first
says, "I hold it to be demonstrated that this cranium has belonged to a
person of limited intellectual faculties, and we conclude thence that it
belonged to a man of a low degree of civilization."[30] "From the
narrowness of the frontal portion it belonged to an individual of small
intellectual development."[31] Buchner says, "In its length and
narrowness, the slight elevation of its forehead, the form of the widely
separated orbits and the well developed supra-orbital arches, it
resembles, especially when viewed from above, the celebrated Neanderthal
skull, but in general is far superior to this in its structure."[32]
Carl Vogt "regards it, with reference to the proportion of length to
breadth, as one of the most ill-favored, animal-like and simian of
skulls."[33]
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