156 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



of an ape. In regard to the whole question the 

 scientists of note were most completely divided in 

 their judgment upon every single one of the four 

 bones. 



It was not even certain to what geological epoch 

 the layer of earth belonged in which these rem- 

 nants were found. Scientists at first claimed they 

 dated back to Pliocene times, until the opinion 

 gradually gained ground that they were of Pleisto- 

 cene origin. It is needless to enter into the 

 battles that were fought by scientists in regard to 

 every detail connected with this handful of bones. 

 It was all a question of nationality, the witty 

 French archaeologist G. de Mortillet suggested. 

 The English stood by Darwin in their interpre- 

 tation. The Germans said it was an ape, and the 

 French defended their own young countryman who 

 had made the discovery. This is somewhat of 

 an exaggeration, but correctly indicates how far 

 all these discrepant views were merely a question 

 of bias and not of science. Yet out of this dust 

 of scuffling feet and confusion of swinging arms 

 and clenched fists, leaving nothing for the basis of 

 a single final judgment, the imagination of the 

 artist evokes the picture we have described, Pithe- 

 canthropus erectus, the walking ape-man, and for 

 years the pupils in our schools and the general 

 public in its magazines and papers, its sociology 

 and popular literature are deceived into believing 



