THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN BODY 319 



of Heidelberg. The Professor arrived on the scene the follow- 

 ing day, and "once he got hold of the specimen, he would no 

 more let it out of his possession." (Cf. Smithson. Inst. Rpt. 

 for 1913, p. 510.) He took it back with him to Heidelberg, 

 where he cleaned and repaired it. The crowns of four of the 

 teeth broken by the workman's shovel were never recovered. 

 The Heidelberg jaw was found at a depth of about 79 feet be- 

 low the surface (24.1 meters). Fossil bones of Elephas an- 

 tiquus. Rhinoceros etruscus, Felis leo fossilis, etc., are said to 

 have been discovered at the same level. The layer in which it 

 was found has been classed by some as Middle Pleistocene, by 

 others as Early Quaternary; for "there seems to be some un- 

 certainty as to the exact subdivision of the period to which 

 it should be attributed." (HrdhCka, loc. cit., p. 516.) No 

 other part of the skeleton except the jaw was discovered. 



The teeth are of the normal human pattern, being small and 

 vertical. Prof. Arthur Keith says they have the same shape as 

 those of the specimen found at Spy. The jaw has an ape-like 

 appearance, due to the extreme recessiveness of the chin. It is 

 also remarkable for its massiveness and the broadness of the 

 ascending rami. Its anomalous character is indicated by the 

 manifest disproportion between the powerful jaw and the in- 

 significant teeth. "One is impressed," says Prof. George 

 Grant MacCurdy of Yale, "by the relative smallness of the 

 teeth as compared with the massive jaw in the case of Homo 

 heidelhergensisr (Smithson. Inst. Rpt. for 1909, p. 570.) "Why 

 so massive a jaw," says the late Professor Dwight, former 

 anatomist at Harvard, "should have such inefficient teeth is 

 hard to explain, for the very strength of the jaw implies the 

 fitness of corresponding teeth. Either it is an anomaly or 

 the jaw of some aberrant species of ape." (Op. cit., p. 164.) 

 This fact alone destroys its evidential force; for, by way of 

 anomaly, almost any sort of feature can appear in apes and 

 men, that is, human characters in apes and simian characters 

 in man. "Thus it is certain," says Dwight, "that animal fea- 

 tures of the most diverse kinds appear in man apparently 



