40 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.83 



Pithecanthropus could not have been much different from that of 

 man of today, and that the height of his body approximated 170 cm. 

 (5 ft. 7 in.). The being had a completely upright posture and walked 

 habitually erect, which indicates at the same time a human-like free- 

 dom of the arms and the hands. 



All the above showed conclusively tu Dubois that the form could 

 not be ascribed to the Siiniidac; at the same time, numerous character- 

 istics of the skull, those of the teeth, and some features even of the 

 femur indicate that the form cannot be classed with those of the 

 Hominidac. It is an intermediary form which necessitates its classi- 

 fication as a new genus, the Pithecanthropus, and a new family, the 

 PitJiccanthropidac. Pithecanthropus crcctus is a transitional form 

 which must have existed between man and the anthroix)ids ; " it is 

 the precursor (\^orfahr) of man " (p. 31). The inner and posterior 

 of the upper fourth of the femur show a pronounced exostosis of 

 pathological origin. Similar exostoses are known in man. 



Dubois' rejwrts on the Java finds, and above all the specimens 

 themselves after he brought them to Holland, attracted naturally the 

 liveliest attention of the .scientific world. A number of prominent 

 anthropologists, paleontologists, and anatomists, such as Manouvrier, 

 Marsh, Flower, Virchow, Smith Woodward, Sir William Turner, 

 Schwalbe, and others, were given the privilege of seeing the sjieci- 

 mens ; and September 15-21, 1895, the originals were exhibited to all 

 before the Third International Zoological Congress at Leyden, where 

 they received great attention and much discussion. On December 

 14, 1895, the originals were shown again by Dubois, who at the same 

 time presented a report upon them, at a special meeting of the Berliner 

 Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie ; and before long several bronze repli- 

 cas were made of the skull for distribution to a few Institutions (one 

 is at the Laboratoire d'ficole d'Anthropologie, Paris), from which in 

 turn were obtained plaster casts that became generally available. 



Soon, also, discussions of the subject by various workers began to 

 appear in various scientific media. Two communications by Manou- 

 vrier appeared in January and bY'bruary, 1895,' followed rapidly by 



' Manouvrier, L., Le Pithcciuithropns. Rev. mens, ficole Antlirop., Paris, 

 Vol. 5, pp. 69-72, 4 figs., 1895. 



. Discussion du " Pilhccanthropus crcctus" comme prccurseur pre- 

 sume de I'homme. P.ull. Soc. Anthrop. Paris, Vol. 6, pp. 12-47, 6 figs., 1895 

 (presented in January of same year, hut not published until several of the fol- 

 lowing papers appeared). 



