PILTDOWN HOAX — STRAUS 371 



the picture of human evolution that has gradually been unfolding as 

 the result of paleontological discoveries throughout the world. 



The Piltdown story is a significant one in the history of ideas, more 

 particularly as it bears on the concept of the precise course of lumian 

 evolution. For, if man's biological history be likened to a book, it is 

 seen to be composed of both blank and written pages and, by those 

 who note them carefully, many if not most of the w^ritten ones will be 

 seen to be in the nature of palimpsests — pages that have been rewritten 

 after their original writing has been rubbed out. Of this, the Piltdown 

 affair is a striking demonstration. It is a demonstration, furthermore, 

 that the palimpsest nature of the pages of man's history is not always 

 due directly to new fossil discoveries but can also result from changes 

 in the philosophical climate of the science. That this phenomenon is 

 peculiar to antliropology, however, is seriously to be doubted. 



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