THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 81 



and the blunted point from the folded 

 margin of the ear, which he con- 

 siders sufficient proof that your ances- 

 tors once possessed " pointed ears and a 

 tail." 



Then he adduces many interesting 

 traces of correspondence between the ape 

 and yourselves. Amongst others, he men- 

 tions a remarkable fact which fully con- 

 firms the truth of the schoolboy legend 

 that time was when " monkeys chewed to- 

 bacco " for if they thus treat the fragrant 

 weed, as certain tribes in the far West do 

 who worship a great red stone pipe, as part 

 of " their flesh," and esteem it " great 

 medicine" because belonging to their 

 primeval ancestors, and tobacco is pro- 

 nounced to be " ancestral food,"* it is 

 certain they have adopted the universal 

 practice of their wiser brethren in the 

 far East. Hence, says Darwin "Many 

 kinds of monkeys have a strong taste for 



* See Prehistoric Man ; or Researches into the Origin 

 of Civilisation in the Old and New World, by Daniel 

 Wilson, LL.D. : 2 vols. ; vol. ii., p. 12. 



G 



