vi THE AltYAN QUESTION. 321 



about its nature which do not look so well under 

 the light thrown by a more advanced science of 

 Anthropology. It could be and it was suggested 

 that the Neanderthal skeleton was that of a 

 strayed idiot; that the characters of the skull were 

 the result of early synostosis or of late gout; and, 

 in fact, any stick was good enough to beat the dog 

 withal. 



As some writings of mine on the subject led to 

 my occupation of a prominent position among the 

 belaboured dogs of that day, I have taken a mild 

 interest in watching the gradual rehabilitation of 

 my old friend of the Neanderthal among normal 

 men, which has been going on of late years. It 

 has come to be generally admitted that his remark- 

 able cranium is no more than a strongly-marked 

 example of a type which occurs, not only among 

 other prehistoric men, but is met with, sporadic- 

 ally, among the moderns; and that, after all, I was 

 not so wrong as I ought to have been, when I in- 

 dicated such points of similarity among the skulls 

 found in our river-beds and among the native races 

 of Australia.* However, doubts still clung about 

 the geological age of the various deposits in which 

 skulls of the Neanderthal type were subsequently 

 found; and it was not until the year 1886 that two 

 highly-competent observers, Messrs. Fraipont and 

 Lohest, the one an anatomist, the other a geolo- 

 gist, furnished us with evidence such as will bear 



* See p. 202 of this volume. 



185 



