ANCIENT KEMAINS OF MAN HKDLICKA. 497 



it has not been washed or rolled about to any great extent; but the 

 skull cap showed the effects of erosion, probably caused by acidulous 

 water seeping through the deposits. 



All indications and a detailed study of the specimens led Dubois 

 to the conclusions that: (1) The four skeletal pieces in question were 

 contemporaneous; (2) they were of the age of the stratum in which 

 foimd; (3) they belonged to one skeleton; and (4) they represent a 

 transitional form of beings between the anthropoid apes and man, 

 belonging to the direct line in the genealogy of the latter. 



The first published announcement of the discovery by Dubois ap- 

 peared in 1894;^ to-day the subject possesses already a relatively 

 large literature of its own.^ A special expedition of two years' dura- 

 tion has also since worked on the site of the discovery,^ and the 

 remains are regarded universally as of the greatest scientific value; 

 but the final word concerning their exact age and true biological 

 position has not yet been pronounced. 



It should be stated at once that there is no room for doubt as to 

 the place of discovery of the several bones and their geological or 

 paleontological relations. The several pieces were found in situ, 

 in the progress of scientific exploration, by a careful and competent 

 observer. But the precise age of the stratum in which they lay, and 

 their exact biological position among related forms, are not yet ab- 

 solutely delimited. While Dubois and other scientific men regard 

 the Pithecanthropus remains as all belonging to the same skeleton, 

 as dating chronologically from the latest part of the Tertiary or the 

 earliest phase of the Quaternary period, and as representing a true 

 intermediary form between the anthropoid apes and man, others 

 have expressed doubts as to whether the four bones belong to the 



1 Pithecanthropus erectus. Eine menschenahnllche Uebergangsform aus Java. Von 

 Bug. Dubois, Militararzt der Niederlandischen Armee. Mitt zwei Tafeln und drei in den 

 Text gedruckten Figuren., 4", Batavia, 1894. 



2 Few of the more important English contributions to the subject are : 



Marsh, O. C. On the Pithecanthropus erectus Dubois, from Java. (Amer. Journ. Scl., 

 Feb. 1895.) On the Pithecanthropus erectus, from the Tertiary of Java, (Ibid., 4th ser 

 vol. 1. 1896, pp. 475-482.) 



Turner, William. On M. Dubois's description of remains recently found in Java, named 

 by him Pithecanthropus erectus, with remarks on the so-called transitional forms between 

 Apes and Man. (.Tourn. Anat. and Physiol., vol. 29, 1895, pp. 424-445.) 



Dubois, E. On Pithecanthropus erectus : a transitional form between man and the 

 apes. (Journ. Anthrop. Instit. Great Britain and Ireland, Feb. 1896, pp. 240-255 ; Trans. 

 Royal Dublin Soc, ser. 2, vol. 6, Dublin, 1898, pp. 1-18 ; Smithsonian Report for 1898 

 (Washington, 1899), pp. 445-459.) 



Manouvrier, L. On Pithecanthropus erectus. Transl. by G. G. MacCurdy. (Amer. 

 Journ. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 4, Sept. 1897, pp. 213-234.) 



Hepburn, David. The Trinil femur (Pithecanthropus erectus) contrasted with the 

 femora of various savage and civilized races. (Rep. 66th meeting Brit. Assoc. Adv. Scl., 

 1897, pp. 926-927.) 



For literature in other languages see especially G. Schwalbe, Studien ti. Pithecanthropus 

 erectus Dubois. (Zeitschr. f. Morphologic und Anthropologic, Bd. 1, Stuttgart, 1899, pp. 

 1-240, bibliogr. 234-240.) 



^ Under Mme. Selenka ; see " Die Pithecanthropus-Schichten auf Java," by Mme. Lenore 

 Selenka and M. Blankenhorn, 4°, Leipzig, 1911. 



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