THE MISSING LINK 281 



the missing link ? " It appears that he does not. He 

 seems to have died out without leaving any descendants. 

 In so far as that his bony jaw sloped directly down- 

 wards and backwards from the margin of the sockets of 

 his front teeth, as in the apes, without projecting below, 

 to form a chin protuberance — as it does in all races of 

 Homo sapiens, on account of the shrinking inwards of 

 the gum-line or palisade of front teeth (incisors and 

 canines) — the Neanderman offers a certain approach to 

 the condition of the apes ; but in other details of shape 

 of the lower jaw, and especially in regard to the narrow- 

 ness of the lower surface of the chin and the large and 

 deep attachments on its inner face, for the digastric 

 muscle and certain muscles of the tongue, the bony 

 remains of the Neanderman show that he is distinctly 

 and altogether human, and not like the higher apes. 

 Moreover, in the very large size of his brain (as much 

 as 1600 units) the Neanderman shows no approach to 

 the relatively small brain of the higher apes (which 

 measures 500 units, possibly 800 by exception). There 

 is in these structures some argument for the conclusion 

 that the Neanderman could use articulate language, and 

 inasmuch as the climate in which he flourished was 

 extremely cold, there is ground for supposing that he 

 could produce fire and clothe himself with skins. The 

 flint implements which are definitely associated with him 

 are of more skilful workmanship than the earlier, more 

 elaborate, but less cleverly conceived, Chellean and 

 Acheuillian implements. We cannot refuse to call him 

 " man " — not Homo sapiens, we agree — but of the 

 " genus " Homo — Homo Neanderthalensis. 



So long as the Neanderman was the sole indication 

 of a creature nearer in some features to the apes than 

 are any liv^ing or extinct races of the species Homo 



