OUR ANCIENT RELATIVES 



of the anthropoid stock at that time, which ranged 

 from India to Spain. But Darwin's conclusion 

 that mankind represents a pecuHar and specialized 

 offshoot from the anthropomorphous subgroup of 

 Old World primates, after three-quarters of a 

 century of anatomical and palseontological re- 

 search, is backed by a mountain of evidence. 



The female chimpanzee in the side view of the 

 skull stands nearer in resemblance to man than it 

 does to the primitive Eocene primate Notharctus. 

 The chimpanzee in fact has acquired all the 

 "basic patents" in skull architecture which were 

 prerequisite for the final development of the 

 human skull. 



The most eminent students of the brains of 



animals and men conclude that partly as a result 



of the necessity for keen sight in actively climbing 



animals, the eyes in primates (Fig. 35) moved 



around from the sides of the face, where they are 



in the lower vertebrates, and were brought to the 



front, where in the anthropoid apes they finally 



acquired biconjugate movements and stereoscopic 



vision. In the anthropoid apes, moreover, the 



sense of smell no longer dominates the brain 



system as it did in lower vertebrates, but its reign 



65 



