THE STUDY OF HUMAN PREHISTORY 
organs, chest, and head is partly supported by the fore- 
legs; in man, on the contrary, this duty is thrown on the 
pelvis. Alterations took place also in the curvature of the 
backbone and in the structure of the individual vertebrae. 
Finally, the bones and joints of the legs and feet like- 
wise bear witness to many facts about primitive man. 
For example, a fairly constant relation exists between the 
length of the thigh bone, or femur, and the total height 
of the individual in different races; and the femur is pre- 
cisely one of the parts of fossil skeletons most apt to be 
preserved (Fig. 10). The shape of the knee joint, again, 
shows whether the leg could be straightened, which 1s to 
say, whether its owner walked upright or stooping over. 
A striking recent instance will suffice to show how the 
trained modern specialist works with the often very frag- 
mentary evidence that keeps coming to light. About a 
score of years ago some pieces of a skull found at Piltdown, 
in southern England, were recognized at once as one of the 
very earliest specimens yet discovered. It was in the 
highest degree desirable to restore it as nearly as possible 
to its original shape. As some question existed as to 
whether the fragments found were sufficient to allow of 
this being done, the eminent anatomist, Sir Arthur Keith, 
submitted to the following test. With his permission we 
here quote part of his narrative in his own words: 
. . . The question is often asked: Are four fragments of a skull, such 
as those found at Piltdown, sufficient to give us a definite clue to the 
original form of skull? . . . To test the matter, Professor F. G. Par- 
sons of St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, London, made a pro- 
posal to me, namely, that he and some of his fellow-anatomists should 
select a skull, cut fragments from it corresponding to those found at 
Piltdown, and that I should attempt to reconstruct the entire skull 
from these fragments. I gladly accepted the proposal, and resolved, 
however the result should turn out, to make the experiment the sub- 
ject of an address I had promised to the fellows of the Royal Anthro- 
pological Institute. 
On the 16th January, 1914, a fortnight before this lecture was due, 
the four pieces of a skull shown in [Fig. 11] came to me from Dr. Douglas 
Derry, of University College, London. They were representatives 
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