The Last Link: Our Present Knowledge of the Descent of Man — John Shaqi
The Last Link: Our Present Knowledge of the Descent of ManHaeckel, Ernst
Science
The Last Link: Our Present Knowledge of the Descent of Man
Haeckel, Ernst
Human beings -- Origin
The more important points are the following: The remains in question
rested upon a conglomerate which lies upon a bed of marine marl and
sand of Pliocene age. Together with the bones of Pithecanthropus were
found those of Stegodon, Leptobos, Rhinoceros, Sus, Felis, Hyæna,
Hippopotamus, Tapir, Elephas, and a gigantic Pangolin. It is remarkable
that the first two of these genera are now extinct, and that neither
hippopotamus nor hyæna exists any longer in the Oriental region. If we
may judge from these fossil remains, the bones of Pithecanthropus are
not younger than the oldest Pleistocene, and probably belong to the
upper Pliocene. The teeth are like those of man. The femur, also, is
very human, but shows some resemblances to that of the gibbons. Its
size, however, indicates an animal which stood when erect not less
than 5 feet 6 inches high. The skull-cap also is very human, but with
very prominent eyebrow ridges, like those of the famous Neanderthal
cranium. It is certainly not that of an idiot. It had an estimated
cranial capacity of about 1,000 cubic centimetres--that is to say, much
more than that of the largest ape, which possesses not more than 600
c.c. The crania of female Australians and Veddahs measure not more than
1,100, some even less than 1,000 c.c.; but, as these Veddah women stand
only about 4 feet 9 inches high, the computed cranial capacity of the
much taller Pithecanthropus is comparatively very low indeed.[10]
[10] On the day after the delivery of this address Dr. Dubois exhibited
the cranium of Pithecanthropus, from which he had removed the stony
matrix which filled the inside, in order to examine the impression left
by the cerebral convolutions. He was able to show that they also are
very human, and more highly developed than those of the recent apes. [
Illustration: The upper figure represents the outlines
of the skull of Pithecanthropus, as restored by Manouvier.[11] The
lower figure shows the comparative size and shape of Pithecanthropus,
the Neanderthal skull, a specimen of the Cro-Magnon race of neolithic
France, and a Young Chimpanzee before the full development of the
supraorbital crests.]
[11] L. Manouvier: 'Deuxième étude sur le Pithecanthropus erectus comme
précurseur présumé de l'homme.' (_Bulletins de la Soc. d'Anthropologie
de Paris_, 1895.)
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