RECENT ADVANCES IN SCIENCE 131 



as long ago as October 191 3) that the prominence has arisen 

 by the rapid reduction of the size of the teeth and alveolar 

 portion of the mandible, which has left the lower part of the 

 jaw disproportionately large. Dr. Waterman cites the parallel 

 case of the elephants, which possess a very conspicuous chin, 

 and whose alveolar surface is known to have been reduced in 

 recent geological times. The author appears, however, to have 

 missed the interesting point that his own argument leads 

 straight to the conclusion that Homo sapiens is immediately 

 descended from a being with larger teeth than the extinct species 

 Homo heidelbergensis . 



On March 28 a joint meeting of the Royal Anthropological 

 Institute and the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia was held at 

 the headquarters of the former society in London. Several 

 interesting, if not always very convincing, papers were read. 

 Mr. A. E. Peake, the President of the East Anglian Society, 

 gave a lecture on the " Recent Excavations at Grime's Graves," 

 and put forward the opinion that the human relics found there 

 were of Middle Paleolithic age, although apart from the sup- 

 posed peculiarities of the flints not a particle of evidence was 

 produced in favour of a Pleistocene antiquity, and the fauna 

 found, both mammalian and molluscan, was admittedly post- 

 Pleistocene in character. Mr. Reginald Smith supported Mr. 

 Peake, but left the absence of Pleistocene animals unexplained. 

 Other speakers criticised this view, however, and supported 

 the conclusion which I expressed in Science Progress in 

 January that these interesting relics are early Neolithic. Mr. 

 A. S. Kennard also read a highly controversial paper on the 

 " Pleistocene Succession in England," in which he stated that 

 he held that there had been only one glacial period in Britain 

 during the Pleistocene, not four cold phases, as most geologists 

 now believe. Even if the alternation of warmth and cold is 

 not so clearly traceable in England as one could wish, it is 

 obviously almost incredible that Britain should not have 

 shared in the climatic changes which have been so thoroughly 

 demonstrated on the Continent. Mr. Kennard ignored this 

 point. The Prehistoric Society of East Anglia displays ad- 

 mirable energy, but it is becoming associated with opinions 

 which most students of prehistoric anthropology regard as 

 somewhat untenable. However, in science heretics are neces- 

 sary and valuable people. 



