10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



ancient man and the fossil European apes. During the trip Doctor 

 Hrdlicka acted as director of the American School in France for 

 Prehistoric Studies, and was accompanied by a number of American 

 graduate students. One of the principal objects of the trip was to 

 secure accurate measurements of the teeth, particularly the lower 

 molars, of the larger fossil apes and early man by one observer, by 

 a strictly defined method, and with accurate instruments. Another 

 object was to take photographs of the various sites of early man of 

 which good photographs were not available. 



The trip included visits to various regions in England, Holland, 

 Belgium, France, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, and Croatia. In 

 these countries practically all of the important sites were visited 

 and as far as possible the skeletal remains of early man and the 

 fossil apes in museums along the route were examined and measured. 

 In many cases assistance was given by prominent anthropologists 

 connected with these institutions in giving first-hand reviews of the 

 knowledge concerning the specimens and sites, and sometimes in per- 

 sonal conduct to the sites themselves. In Holland Doctor Hrdlicka 

 had the unique privilege of visiting Prof. Eugene Dubois, of Haar- 

 lem, and seeing the famous remains of the Pithecanthropus as well 

 as the other Java remains in his possession. Regarding the Pithe- 

 canthropus remains. Doctor Hrdlicka says : 



The remains of, or those attributed to, the Pithecanthropus consist of the 

 now thoroughly cleansed skull-cap, a femur and three teeth, two molars and 

 one premolar. Besides these there is from another locality a piece of a strange 

 primitive lower jaw, and also two skulls with many parts of the skeletons of 

 a later, though yet rather primitive, type of man from consolidated calcareous 

 deposits in still another part of the island. 



The examination of the originals belonging to the Pithecanthropus find was 

 in many respects a revelation. It was seen that none of the casts now in 

 various institutions are accurate, and that the same is true of the so far 

 published illustrations, above all those of the teeth and femur. The originals 

 are even more important than held hitherto. The new brain cast shows an 

 organ very close to human. The femur is without question human. When the 

 detailed study of all these specimens is published, which Doctor Dubois expects 

 to occur before the end of the winter, the specimens, though all controversial 

 points may not be settled, will assume even a weightier place in science than 

 they have had up to the present. 



The trip resulted in an overwhelming sense of the greatness and scientific 

 importance of the field of early man in western and central Europe and in a 

 keen appreciation of the opportunities for cooperation in this field by American 

 students. 



SMITHSONIAN SERIES OF RADIO TALKS 



Beginning on October 19, 1923, arrangements were made with 

 radio station WRC, of the Radio Corporation of America, to broad- 

 cast a series of talks on the Institution and its branches. These 



