202 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 



eighty feet of sand and gravel at Mauer, near 

 Heidelberg ; and the second is the Piltdown 

 skull, at the moment so fruitful a matter of dis- 

 cussion. As to the mandibles, in both cases this 

 may be said that in general structure and appear- 

 ance they are more simian than any human jaws 

 which have yet been examined. Without enter- 

 ing into anatomical considerations, which would 

 detain us too long, this fact may be admitted. 

 Yet in neither case is the mandible actually simian, 

 a fact admitted by Keith : " The jaws of these 

 early human beings were primitive enough, but 

 certainly not simian. At even this early stage the 

 simian condition was long past " (p. 88).* What 

 is really remarkable is that in both cases appar- 

 ently, but certainly in that of the Heidelberg 

 mandible, the teeth are much less simian than 

 those of certain races of mankind in existence at 

 the present day. What explanation there may be 

 of this apparent anomaly has not so far been dis- 

 covered, yet (as in the case of the Neanderthal 

 skull, once so great a puzzle and an apparent 

 anomaly)! we may hope for a clearing up of our 



* It will of course be noted that he assumes the evolution of 

 man from a simian form, the positive evidence for which so far as 

 skeletal discoveries go, may be said to be almost entirely lacking. 

 This matter cannot be discussed in the present paper. 



t It is not necessary here to discuss the history of scientific 

 opinion in connection with the Neanderthal skull. Some account 

 thereof to the date of the article is given by the present writer in 

 a previous article. Suffice it to say that after a lengthy discussion 

 and great difference of opinion, including views of the most 

 opposite character, more careful anatomical study seems to have 

 proved that this skull, once thought, if human at all, to be that of 

 a human being inferior to any living individual, is actually of a 

 character not greatly or seriously differing froni that of modern 

 rages. See p. 147 seq, 



