206 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



ment: "For my part I believed the Neanderthal 

 man to be a specimen of a race, not arrested in 

 its upward climb, but thrown down from a higher 

 position," 8 though he could not then point to the 

 evidence. Even Osborn, with his fatal prepos- 

 sessions, must admit that the Neanderthal skull 

 marks a degeneration, which he expresses in his 

 evolutionary way by saying: "We may suppose 

 that the Piltdown type became gradually modified 

 into the Neanderthal type by a series of changes 

 similar to those passed through by the early apes 

 as they evolved into typical modern apes, with 

 their low brows and prominent ridges. This 

 would tend to support the theory that the Nean- 

 derthal men were degenerate offshoots of the Ter- 

 tiary race." 9 



We are not concerned with Mr. Osborn's theo- 

 ries, but what interests us is the fact that he feels 

 compelled to strain even his views to admit that 

 a more perfect race had already preceded the Ne- 

 anderthal type. And here is what that eminent 

 geologist, G. Frederick Wright, has to say, which 

 we have every reason to believe will remain the 

 final word: 



Upon extending inquiries, it was found that the Neanderthal 

 type of skull is one which still has representatives in all na- 

 tions; so that it is safe to infer that the individual was a 

 representative of all the individuals living in his time. The 

 skull of Bruce, the celebrated Scotch hero, was a close repro- 



J "Thoughts of a Catholic Anatomist," p. 170. 

 H. F. Osborn, "Men of the Old Stone Age," pp. 141, 142. 



