THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 23 



These remains occurred so near the present land surface 

 that had they not shown evidence of great structural antiquity, 

 their authenticity would be greatly in doubt. As it is, they are 

 conceded to be ancient, the chief discussion being as to how 

 ancient and whether or not the jaw pertained, whether the 

 canine tooth was upper or lower, and finally as to the cubic 

 contents of the skull. (See Frontispiece and Fig. 5.) 



Neandertal or Mousterian man (Homo neandertalensis or 



primi genius] 



This is now a well-established race with considerable range 

 of variation within it, for of it there have been found rela- 

 tively numerous individuals of greater or less degree of per- 

 fection. Of these, the first in chronological order, and the 

 most ancient in point of time, is the Gibraltar skull discovered 

 in 1848, but unappreciated scientifically for so many years that 

 its position in the series has been subordinate instead of at the 

 head. It is now preserved in the Museum of the Royal Col- 

 lege of Surgeons. 



The most famous skeleton, which gave its name to the 

 race, is that found at the mouth of a cave in the Neandertal 

 gorge of the valley of the Diissel, a German tributary of the 

 Rhine. While apparently nearly perfect at the time of dis- 

 covery, but little of the skeleton is now preserved in the Pro- 

 vincial Museum at Bonn. A skull-cap, ribs, part of a right 

 scapula, clavicle, humeri, ulnse, femora, right radius, tibia, and 

 a portion of the left pelvic bone are the chief parts remaining, 

 and, as might well be supposed, the publication of the find 

 gave rise to much contention as to whether it represented a 

 type of man or was merely the relic of some poor waif of 

 humanity, diseased or otherwise, the result of abnormal 

 growth. It was not until the further discovery of two other 

 individuals at Spy in Belgium in 1886, which again bore the 



