280 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



may have originated in various parts of the world, each lived many 

 tens of thousands of years, and then with one exception all became 

 extinct. At certain times two or more such species may have co- 

 existed, although probably in different regions. Perhaps they even- 

 tually killed off each other, just as the white race in historic times 

 has exterminated the Tasmanians and certain other primitive tribes. 

 But today only one species survives, and he has apparently had the 

 field all to himself since the middle of the last glacial epoch, or about 

 30,000-50,000 years ago, according to current estimates. Each of 

 these species appears to have been as distinct from the others as 

 species and genera of animals usually are. 



There is nothing to indicate that the very primitive Sinanthropus 

 made much progress in culture during his long career in China. He 

 learned to use fire — probably to make it — and to fashion a few simple 

 tools of stone and bone; but that seems to have marked the limit of 

 his inventive capacity. For shelter and safety from attack he seems 

 to have crept into caves, like many another beast. 



Neanderthal man, generally placed in the genus Homo^ shows evi- 

 dence of a distinctly higher culture. He made more varied and better 

 tools of chipped flint, of wood, bone, and other materials ready to 

 his hand. But with a brain which appears to have been inferior, 

 even his long career as a species seems not to have sufficed for him to 

 invent pottery, polished or ground stone tools, to learn to domesticate 

 and use other animals rather than to hunt them, or to grow crops, 

 not to mention building houses or using metals. Apparently he had 

 some ideas about spirits and a future life, for he buried his dead 

 with some care and placed in their graves some of their ornaments 

 and weapons ; but we have no evidence that he developed any art of 

 drawing or sculpture, and none of his tools were finely wrought. 

 There is evidence of only slight progress during the long age 

 through which he lived, and at his best his cultural level was dis- 

 tinctly lower than that of the most primitive savages now known to 

 anthropologists. 



How these various species of men came into existence is unknown 

 and may well remain so. But there is nothing to suggest that their 

 origin differed in any way from that of the other mammals. To 

 suppose that it did would be gratuitous speculation. Indeed, had it 

 not been for the achievements of the latest of these species, the 

 Hominidae would never have been entitled to special notice as 

 anything more than somewhat peculiar mammals. 



From biological friends whom I have consulted, I learn that they 

 are not yet agreed upon the question of how a new species originates. 

 In fact there is some difference of opinion as to just what constitutes 

 a species, as contrasted with a race, a variety, or even a genus. While 



