Pithecanthropus erectus 143 



like human being who lived in the later Tertiary 

 period. Dr. Dubois holds the opinion, from 

 impressions he finds on the inner surface of 

 this skull, that the brain it once contained pos- 

 sessed that portion of the cerebral hemispheres 

 in which Broca's organ of speech is located. 

 He holds that this area of the brain, in the Ter- 

 tiary period human being was less than half the 

 size of the corresponding portion of the brain 

 of existing Europeans. 



This statement suggests the idea that this 

 being possessed to some degree the power of 

 articulate language, but from the capacity of 

 his brain as a whole we feel convinced that his 

 intellectual powers were of a rudimentary 

 character, as compared with those of civilised 

 human beings of the present day. 1 We make 

 this statement on the estimated capacity of the 

 Java skull, which amounts to 950 c.c. as com- 

 pared with that of average educated English- 

 men, who have an average cranial capacity of 

 1,500 c.c. The capacity of a full-grown male 

 gorilla's skull is some 600 c.c., the weight of 



1 The capacity of the skull is commonly expressed in cubic 

 centimetres. 



