FROM Pl^IMITIVE TO MODERN MAN 735 



crt'ctus, the Ja\a man of the Trinil race' (origin, according to Keith, over 

 one million years ago). This ape-man, ah hough (k'linittlx human in tvjie, 

 had so many simian (|uahties and so much eharaetenstic ot man as to justily 

 the view that he represents a transitional stage in human eNolution. Tliat he 

 possessed a head and a face not unlike that of an ape witii a brain consider- 

 ably larger than that of an\ known simian, there seems to be no doubt. 



Concerning the detailed organization ol this earliest iorerunner ol the 

 human raet', little can be said since his discoverer. Dr. Eugen Dubois, was 

 fortunate enough only to recover several teeth, a portion ol the calvarium 

 and one femur. From these fossil remains, however, Dubois has maintained, 

 and other authorities unanimously sustain his argument, that Pithecanthro- 

 pus erectus, by virtue of the size and shape of his femur, must have assumed 

 the erect j)ostLire. He was thus able to ualk upon both feet much in the man- 

 ner of his modern successors. It is also probable that m stature this primiti\'c 

 man was not greatly inferior to the |)reseiit human races. That he employed 

 his hands in the use of weapons and certain crude implements, that his life 

 depended mainly u|)on recourse to primitive means for protecting him- 

 self against the numerous enemies w hich beset his ])ath and lay in wait about 

 his camping places, seems more than likely, hlis time was doubtless so fully 

 preempted by the arduous tasks of gaining sustenance for himself, that little 

 remained for the more leisurely production of ancillary industries or cul- 

 tural pursuits. 



So closely was this human creature related to his contemporaries in the 

 animal kingdom that he managed to hold his position among them only by 

 a narrow margin of superiority. This slight ascendancy was derived Irom a 

 dawning ingenuity w hleh t-nabled him to ecjualize the struggle by the cunning 

 of his hand. Thus he took advantage of [)rimitive shrewdness and contrivance 

 to outwit those natural antagonists which in strength and in speed far 



' Osburn's chronological estimates arc followed in tliis text. 



