Darwin and Modern ScienceSeward, A. C. (Albert Charles)
Philosophy
Darwin and Modern Science
Seward, A. C. (Albert Charles)
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882; Evolution (Biology); Science -- History
As on the one hand there has been found in Pithecanthropus a form which,
though intermediate between apes and man, is nevertheless more closely
allied to the apes, so on the other hand, much progress has been made
since Darwin's day in the discovery and description of the older
human remains. Since the famous roof of a skull and the bones of the
extremities belonging to it were found in 1856 in the Neandertal near
Dusseldorf, the most varied judgments have been expressed in regard
to the significance of the remains and of the skull in particular.
In Darwin's "Descent of Man" there is only a passing allusion to them
("Descent of Man", page 82.) in connection with the discussion of the
skull-capacity, although the investigations of Schaaffhausen, King, and
Huxley were then known. I believe I have shown, in a series of papers,
that the skull in question belongs to a form different from any of the
races of man now living, and, with King and Cope, I regard it as at
least a different species from living man, and have therefore designated
it Homo primigenius. The form unquestionably belongs to the older
Diluvium, and in the later Diluvium human forms already appear, which
agree in all essential points with existing human races.
As far back as 1886 the value of the Neandertal skull was greatly
enhanced by Fraipont's discovery of two skulls and skeletons from Spy in
Belgium. These are excellently described by their discoverer ("La race
humaine de Neanderthal ou de Canstatt en Belgique". "Arch. de Biologie",
VII. 1887.), and are regarded as belonging to the same group of forms
as the Neandertal remains. In 1899 and the following years came the
discovery by Gorjanovic-Kramberger of different skeletal parts of
at least ten individuals in a cave near Krapina in Croatia.
(Gorjanovic-Kramberger "Der diluviale Mensch von Krapina in Kroatien",
1906.) It is in particular the form of the lower jaw which is different
from that of all recent races of man, and which clearly indicates
the lowly position of Homo primigenius, while, on the other hand, the
long-known skull from Gibraltar, which I ("Studien zur Vorgeschichte des
Menschen", 1906, pages 154 ff.) have referred to Homo primigenius, and
which has lately been examined in detail by Sollas ("On the cranial and
facial characters of the Neandertal Race". "Trans. R. Soc." London, vol.
199, 1908, page 281.), has made us acquainted with the surprising shape
of the eye-orbit, of the nose, and of the whole upper part of the face.
Isolated lower jaws found at La Naulette in Belgium, and at Malarnaud
in France, increase our material which is now as abundant as could be
desired. The most recent discovery of all is that of a skull dug up in
August of this year (1908) by Klaatsch and Hauser in the lower grotto
of the Le Moustier in Southern France, but this skull has not yet
been fully described. Thus Homo primigenius must also be regarded as
occupying a position in the gap existing between the highest apes and
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