BY FRITZ XOETLING, M.A., Ph.D., ETC. oqS 



weakened their bodies to such an extent that they easily 

 succumbed to any disease. The excessive protein diet 

 did therefore not benefit the race, though it must have 

 lasted for generations; in fact, though a tissue-builder, 

 the protein diet made the race as a v/hole weaker. It is 

 also more than probable that the insufficient quantity of 

 fuel, which made it extremely difficult to maintain the 

 required temperature, paralysed the activity of the brain. 

 During my studies I have dwelt over and over again 

 on the absolute lack of inventive genius that was dis- 

 played by the Aborigines (i). If my theory is correct — 

 if the sluggishness of their brain is the result of the lack 

 of carbo-hydraceous food and the excess of protein — 

 quite a new light is thrown on the evolution of the human 

 race. As I have shown elsewhere, the archaeolithic Tas- 

 manians must have branched off before the Strepyian 

 stage set in. Is it possible that the great change that 

 came over the human race of that period is due to an 

 increased consumption of carbo-hydrates? In fact, that 

 the protein diet of the Mesvinien was superseded by a diet 

 in which nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous food was 

 more suitably mixed, resulting in an increased heat of 

 the blood, which in its turn stimulated the brain. The 

 greater activity of the brain led to those inventions which 

 the Tasmanian race never could make, but which revolu- 

 tionised the life of human beings, that had been stagnant 

 for millions of years? Is it probable that the Cro- 

 ^lagnon race first adopted this new diet, and thereby 

 gained that predominance which enabled it to wipe out 

 the Neandertal race, of which the Tasmanians are only a 

 branch? If my theory is correct, it is a great pity that 

 we have no measuremients of the body temperature of the 

 Tasmanians, because it may perhaps have been some- 

 what lower than that of the Europeans. 



(i) A peculiar group of tronattas, Pap. and Proceed. Royal 

 Soc. of Tasmania, 1909. See also Noetling Studies ueber die 

 Technik der tasmanischen tronatta, Archiv. f., Anthropologic 

 Neue Folge Bd. viii., heft 3, 1909, pag. 197. 



