THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN BODY " 309 



on the side of the primates a quite different form from its 

 previous- one. Such new hypotheses as those of Hubrecht 

 and Klaatsch seem, therefore, fortunate for nature-philoso- 

 phers, because evolution always failed us when we compared 

 known forms in their details, and led us only to confusion. 

 But if one works with such distant hypothetical ancestors, 

 one escapes much disillusioning." (Quoted by Dwight, c/p. cit., 

 p. 195.) 



One thing, at any rate, is certain, namely: that we do not 

 possess any fossils of this primitive "large brained, erectly 

 walking primate," who is alleged to have roamed the earth 

 during the eocene or oligocene epoch. The Foxhall Man, 

 whose culture Osborn ascribes to the Upper Pliocene, is far too 

 recent, and, what is worse, far too intelligent, to be this Ter- 

 tiary Ancestor. The Pithecanthropus erectus, likewise, 'is ex- 

 cluded for reasons which we shall presently consider. Mean- 

 while, let it be noted, that we have Osborn's assurance for the 

 fact that we are descended from a brainy and upright oli- 

 gocene ancestor, as yet, however, undiscovered. 



But the situation is more hopeful, if we hark back to a still 

 more remote period, whose remains are so scarce and frag- 

 mentary, as to eliminate the possibility of embarrassment aris- 

 ing from intractable details. ''Back of this," says Osborn, 

 ". . . was a prehuman arboreal stage." {hoc. cit.) Here, 

 then, we are back again in the same old rut of tree-climbing 

 simian ancestry, whence we thought to have escaped by aban- 

 doning the theory of lineal descent; and, before we have time 

 to speculate upon how we got there, Prof. Wm. Gregory of 

 the American Museum is summoned by Osborn to present us 

 with specimens of this prehuman arboreal stage. This expert, 

 it would seem, favored up till the year 1923 the fossil jaw of 

 the PropUopithecus as representing the common root, whence 

 the human race diverged, on one side, and the races of an- 

 thropoid apes, on the other. (Cf. Osborn's Museum-leaflet of 

 1923 on "The Hall of the Age of Man," p. 29.) On April 14, 

 1923, however, Gregory announced the deposition of Proplio- 



