THE BIRTHPLACE OF MAN 597 



and later the camels and horses, found conditions uncongenial and 

 migrated to Asia, a more favored region. 



It has often been assumed that man must have originated in a 

 warm or tropical climate, to account for the loss of his hairy covering. 

 But I quite agree with Dr. Matthew, that the loss of hair is almost 

 conclusive evidence of his origin in a temperate or cold climate where 

 he found clothing necessary to protect himself from the inclemencies 

 of the weather. We know of no mammals or birds losing their pelage 

 or plumage because of tropical conditions, though some may have lost 

 their hair because of vermin. 



Taking all these facts and conclusions into consideration it seems 

 to me that such evidence as paleontology can at the present time offer 

 points toward central Asia as the birthplace of Homo, and that the 

 time of his origin, as a family, was late Miocene or early Pliocene. 

 If Pithecanthropus be really a true hominid, then we already have evi- 

 dence of his origin in the Asiatic region. Be it as it may, I confidently 

 believe that within a very few years the discovery of indubitable links 

 in man's ancestry will be made in central Asia, in China or northern 

 India. Perhaps to no region of the world does the paleontologist look 

 with more eager expectation for the solution of many profound prob- 

 lems in the phylogenies and migrations of the mammals than to central 

 and eastern Asia. That there are remains of many extinct vertebrates 

 awaiting discovery there in the late Tertiary and Pleistocene deposits 

 has been made evident by the many fragments brought to light by 

 explorers and travelers. 



A field second to none other in the importance and richness of the 

 results to be expected awaits the paleontologist in Asia. 



THE RELATION OF PALEONTOLOGY TO THE HISTORY 



OF MAN, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO 



THE AMERICAN PROBLEM 



By Professor JOHN C. MERRIAM 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 



CONSIDERED in its broadest aspect, the most important relation 

 of paleontology to the study of man concerns the support which 

 it gives to the general theory of evolution of the organic world. If it 

 be held that we have reason to believe man, with all his highest 

 qualities, a product of evolution out of so-called lower animal types, 

 then it becomes necessary to have a full knowledge of the history of 

 man and of the forms preceding him, in order to understand the origin 

 and the true nature of man's fundamental characteristics as they exist 

 to-day. On the other hand, if there is reason to believe that man as 



