Man's Place in Nature, and Other EssaysHuxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Man's Place in Nature, and Other Essays
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Apes; Ethnology; Human beings -- Origin; Indo-Europeans
prominent supra-orbital ridges, in the present case is
rendered still more difficult from the absence both of
the auditory opening and of the nasal spine. But if the
proper horizontal position of the skull be taken from the
remaining portions of the orbital plates, and the
ascending line made to touch the surface of the frontal
bone behind the prominent supra-orbital ridges, the
facial angle is not found to exceed 56°.[47]
Unfortunately, no portions of the facial bones, whose
conformation is so decisive as regards the form and
expression of the head, have been preserved. The cranial
capacity, compared with the uncommon strength of the
corporeal frame, would seem to indicate a small cerebral
development. The skull, as it is, holds about 31 ounces
of millet-seed; and as, from the proportionate size of
the wanting bones, the whole cranial cavity should have
about 6 ounces more added, the contents, were it perfect,
may be taken at 37 ounces. Tiedemann assigns, as the
cranial contents in the Negro, 40, 38, and 35 ounces. The
cranium holds rather more than 36 ounces of water, which
corresponds to a capacity of 1033.24 cubic centimetres.
Huschke estimates the cranial contents of a Negress at
1127 cubic centimetres; of an old Negro at 1146 cubic
centimetres. The capacity of the Malay skulls, estimated
by water, equalled 36, 33 ounces, whilst in the
diminutive Hindoos it falls to as little as 27 ounces."
After comparing the Neanderthal cranium with many others, ancient and
modern, Professor Schaaffhausen concludes thus:--
"But the human bones and cranium from the Neanderthal
exceed all the rest in those peculiarities of
conformation which lead to the conclusion of their
belonging to a barbarous and savage race. Whether the
cavern in which they were found, unaccompanied with any
trace of human art, were the place of their interment, or
whether, like the bones of extinct animals elsewhere,
they had been washed into it, they may still be regarded
as the most ancient memorial of the early inhabitants of
Europe."
Mr. Busk, the translator of Dr. Schaaffhausen's paper, has enabled us to
form a very vivid conception of the degraded character of the
Neanderthal skull, by placing side by side with its outline, that of the
skull of a Chimpanzee, drawn to the same absolute size.
* * * * *
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