January 14, 1909] 



NA TURE 



l^2> 



cranium, from the state of its sutures and its dentition 

 that of an aged male, is remarkable for its size in com- 

 parison witli the short stature of its owner, and for 

 its simian or pithecoid characters. The skull is 

 dolichocephalous (index 75), and remarkable for its 

 thick bones, its flattened cranial vault, enormous brow- 

 ridges (which are more prominent than in the original 

 Neanderthal cranium), with a deep groove above them 

 stretching from one orbital process to the other, for 

 its much depressed occipital " bulging," for the back- 

 ward position of the foraiiwn magimiu, the flattening 

 <if the occipital condyles, and the feeble development of 

 the mastoid processes. The very prognathous face has 

 large and prominent orbits, with a deep depression 

 between them separating the short and very broad 

 nose from the forehead. The upper maxillary differs 

 widely from that in all living races of mankind, in 

 projecting in front, into a sort of muzzle; while the 

 palatine contour is very simian. The lower jaw is re- 

 mark.ible for its mnssiveness, the great width of its 

 condyle, the shallowness of its sigmoid notch, the ob- 

 liquity of its symphysis, and the absence of chin. 



The La Chapelle-aux-Saints cranium, therefore, pre- 

 sents the characters, in some respects exaggerated, 

 which distinguish the Neanderthal and .Spy calvaria, 

 .dl of which, though widely spread over Europe, but on 

 about the same geological horizon, certainly belong, in 

 M. Boule's opinion, to one type. Its mandible also 

 presents the characters of the fossil mandibles, of the 

 same age, known as Naulette, Spy, and Malarnaud. 

 In the same paleontologist's estimation, the Neander- 

 thal type should be considered a normal human tvpe, 

 characteristic of certain parts of Europe in the Middle 

 Pleistocene. This type is different from, and lower 

 than, any now living, for in no existing race are to 

 be found united the low characters seen in the La 

 Chapelle-aux-Saints cranium. 



M. Boule, however, is not prepared to separate 

 the Neanderthal-Spy-La Chapelle-aux-Saints group 

 f^enerically, but he would not hesitate to distinguish 

 the La Chapelle-au-Saints man specifically from those 

 of all other human groups, living or fossil. He con- 

 siders it certain that the Neanderthal-Spy-La Chapelle- 

 aux-Saints group represents a low type', nearer to the 

 anthropoid apes than to any human group, and mor- 

 phologically he would place them between Pithecan- 

 thropus and the lowest living races, yet without imply- 

 ing that they are in the same genetic line. The men 

 of the Middle Pleistocene, judp^ed bv their phvsical 

 characters and the relics of their industry, were in a 

 primitive condition intellectually; while" those who 

 lived during the Upper Pleistocene possessed mental 

 powers of a much higher order and were capable of 

 producing true works of art, and their crania acquired 

 the principal characters— the fine forehead, large brain, 

 heaven-surveying countenance — of Homo safiieiis. 



A special interest attaches to the description given 

 above of this new type of Homo, when we recall the 

 vaiious drawings of supposed " humans " left us by 

 the men of the Upper Pleistocene on reindeer horn, 

 ivory, and fragments of schist. These artists have 

 depicted for us an extensive zoological picture-gallery, 

 with a fidelity to nature hardly to be surpassed by aiiy 

 present-day artist. Their sketches are all from sub- 

 jects with which they were intimately acquainted, and 

 if there be forms among them which so far have 

 not been recognised by us, we may rest assured that 

 they were also reproduced from actiJal models. Among 

 the palaeolithic engravings much criticised are those of 

 various anthropoid foriris— such as the two accompany- 

 ing examples (Figs, i and 2) from M. Piette and MM. 

 Cartailhac and Breuil— which some ethnologists have 

 hesitated to recognise as human, because of their pro- 

 nounced simian characters. The description given 

 NO. 2046, VOL. 79] 



above of the man of La Chapelle-aux-Saints seems to 

 fit, in his snout-like jaws, semi-erect attitude, gibbon- 

 like nose (especially Fig. 2), with wonderful exacti- 

 tude, the drawings preserved to us at Mas dWzil and 

 elsewhere. Two very interesting questions suggest 

 themselves : Are these pictures of a race surviving 

 from the Middle Pleistocene? and, \^'ere the artists 

 of the Reindeer age depicting individuals of their 

 own race? The present writer is convinced, and has 

 long held, that they certainly depicted people con- 

 temporaneous with themselves, and reproduced them 



as accurately as they did the bisons, horses, and 

 rhinoceroses amid which thev lived. 



H. O. F. 



BLACK-WATER FEVERS 

 \^E have before us a very careful and detailed 

 study of one of the most dangerous of tropical 

 diseases, which has numbered many victims amongst 

 Europeans of all ranks and classes in various parts 

 of the world; the public that reads Nature will not 

 need to be reminded of the sad death of that distin- 

 guished zoologist, Mr. J. S. Budgett, from black- 

 water consequent on malaria contracted during his 

 collecting expeditions in Africa. 



The authors are especially concerned with the 

 question of the nature and origin of black-water fever ; 

 the prophylaxis and treatment of the disease are dealt 

 with very briefly. After a historical introduction 

 the etiology of black-water fever is discussed and 

 narrowed down to two alternative hypotheses, (i) that 

 the disease is due to a specific organism, (2) that it is 

 of malarial origin. It is then shown that the disease 

 is not due to any parasite visible to critical micro- 

 scopical examination, and that " the trend of evidence 

 is steadily in favour of a malarial, as against a 

 specific, origin." Facts are brought forward to show 

 that in black-water fever the process of blood- 

 destruction is what the authors propose to call 

 "lysaemia," namely, "that condition, in which the 

 red cells undergo solution in the plasma, and in which 



1 "Black 

 Scientific M, 

 the Government of Ind 



Fever." By S. R. Christophers and C. A. Bentley. 

 by Officers of the Medical and Sanitary Departments of 

 No. 35. Pp. iv+239. 



