2 NATURAL SCIENCE. Jan., 



in kind and in amount as the differences between the Neanderthal 

 and Bengawan skulls. 



Dr. Dubois set at rest all doubts as to the geological antiquity 

 of these remains. He showed photographs of the bank of the 

 Bengawan stream, from which they were taken ; of the geological 

 formation of the bank — a thick stratum of sandstone with a stratum 

 of gravel-conglomerate under it, from which the' fossils were obtained; 

 of skulls, teeth, and other bones belonging to species and genera of 

 mammals now extinct, taken from the same stratum as the human 

 remains. Dr. Dubois thought the skull, the teeth, and the femur 

 belonged to the same individual ; this may be doubtful, but there can 

 be no doubt that they all belong to individuals of the same race. 



An interesting, but to our thinking, a crude, attempt was made 

 by Dr. Dubois to represent in a genealogical tree — rising and branch- 

 ing through the various Tertiary strata — the positions occupied by 

 this animal he calls Pithecanthropus erectus, and by men and monkeys. 

 He considers P. erectus as representing the human race in late 

 Tertiary times. We think he has done perfectly right in placing this 

 animal as the direct precursor of the human race — but why give it 

 such a name ? If it is a grandparent of the human race, why not 

 call it human ? It is quite evident that the anthropologists of 

 Europe have a difficulty in drawing a line of separation between 

 it and present man. The difficulty has only just appeared, but 

 further geological research will bring it more into prominence. At 

 what point in the ancestry of man are we going to draw the line, and 

 say, on this side of that line it is man, on the other side, ape ? Dr. 

 Dubois has drawn that line ; he has drawn it separating Quaternary 

 from Tertiary man. Tertiary man he calls Pithecanthropus erectus. 

 The rest of Dr. Dubois' genealogical tree — showing the relationship 

 in descent of apes to each other and to man — we do not think will be 

 endorsed by any who have a knowledge of the anatomical structure 

 of these animals. 



The chief result of Dr. Dubois' discovery is this : Man in late 

 Tertiary times had already completely attained the habit of erect 

 posture, and locomotion had already set his hands free as the servants 

 of his brain ; but his brain and skull had not nearly attained the 

 rounded completion of to-day. 



Mr. Bland Sutton made one of the most interesting contributions 

 to the debate. He pointed out that the Bengawan individual had 

 suffered from Myositis ossificans — a disease peculiar to man, and 

 coming on late in life. Evidently, also, man has carried the burden 

 of his disease through a very long series of ages. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Dublin Society, Dr. Dubois 

 showed his specimens to Irish naturalists. Professors Cunningham 

 and Haddon agreed that Pithecanthropus erectus, Dubois, was a pro- 

 genitor of the human race, but held that the Anthropoids branched 

 from the line at a point lower down. 



