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
"Nevertheless, in order to neglect no point respecting the
form of this fossil skull, we may observe that, from the
first, the elongated and narrow form of the forehead
attracted our attention.
"In fact, the slight elevation of the frontal, its
narrowness, and the form of the orbit, approximate it more
nearly to the cranium of an Ethiopian than to that of an
European: the elongated form and the produced occiput are
also characters which we believe to be observable in our
fossil cranium; but to remove all doubt upon that subject
I have caused the contours of the cranium of an European
and of an Ethiopian to be drawn and the foreheads
represented. Plate II., Figs. 1 and 2, and, in the same
plate, Figs. 3 and 4, will render the differences easily
distinguishable; and a single glance at the figures, will
be more instructive than a long and wearisome description.
"At whatever conclusion we may arrive as to the origin of
the man from whence this fossil skull proceeded, we may
express an opinion without exposing ourselves to a
fruitless controversy. Each may adopt the hypothesis which
seems to him most probable: for my own part, 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:
a deduction which is borne out by contrasting the capacity
of the frontal with that of the occipital region.
"Another cranium of a young individual was discovered in
the floor of the cavern beside the tooth of an elephant;
the skull was entire when found, but the moment it was
lifted it fell into pieces, which I have not, as yet, been
able to put together again. But I have represented the
bones of the upper jaw, Plate I., Fig. 5. The state of the
alveoli and the teeth, shows that the molars had not yet
pierced the gum. Detached milk molars and some fragments
of a human skull, proceed from this same place. The Figure
3, represents a human superior incisor tooth, the size of
which is truly remarkable.[39]
"Figure 4 is a fragment of a superior maxillary bone, the
molar teeth of which are worn down to the roots.
"I possess two vertebræ, a first and last dorsal.
"A clavicle of the left side (see Plate III., Fig. 1);
although it belonged to a young individual, this bone
shows that he must have been of great stature.[40]
"Two fragments of the radius, badly preserved, do not
indicate that the height of the man, to whom they
belonged, exceeded five feet and a half.
"As to the remains of the upper extremities, those which
are in my possession, consist merely of a fragment of an
ulna and of a radius (Plate III., Fig. 5 and 6).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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