788 REPORT— 1901. 



a vexed question and one in the solution of wliieli we have little solid ground to 

 go upon beyond the material changes produced in the brain and the consideration 

 of the time that these might reasonably be supposed to take in their development. 

 Darwin was inclined to believe that articulate speech came at an early period 

 in the history of the stem-form of man. Ilomanes gives a realistic picture of an 

 individual decidedly superior to the anthropoid ape, but distinctly below the exist- 

 ing savages. This hypothetical form, hali'-simiau, half-human, was, according to 

 his sponsor, probably erect ; ho had arrived at the power of shaping flints as tools, 

 and was a great adept at communicating with his fellows by gesture, vocal tones, 

 and facial grimaces. 



With this accomplished ancestor in his mental eye it is not surprising that 

 Ptomanes was inclined to consider that articulate speech may have come at a later 

 period than is generally supposed. 



At the time that Romanes gave expression to these views he was not acquainted 

 with the very marked .structural peculiarities which distinguish the human brain 

 in the region of the speech centre. I do not refer to the development of the brain 

 in other districts, because possibly Romanes might have held that the numerous 

 accomplishments of his speechless ancestor might be sufficient to account for this ; 

 I merely allude to changes which may reasonably be held to have taken place in 

 direct connection with the gradual acquisition of speech. 



These structural characters constitute one of the leading peculiarities of the 

 human cerebral cortex, and are totally absent in the brain of the anthropoid ape 

 and of the speechless mici'oeephalic idiot. 



Further, it is significant that in certain anthropoid brains a slight advance in 

 the_ same direction may occasionally be faintly traced, whilst in certain human 

 brains a distinct backward step is sometimes noticeable. The path which has led 

 to this special development is thus in some measure delineated. 



It is certain that these structural additions to the human brain are no recent 

 acquisition by the stem- form of man, but are the result of a slow evolutionary 

 growth— a growth which has been stimulated by the laborious eflbrts of countless 

 generations to arrive at the perfect co-ordination of all the muscular factors which 

 are called into play in the production of articulate speech. 



Assuming that the acquisition of speech has afforded tbe chief stimulus to the 

 general development of the brain, and thereby giving it a rank high above any 

 other factor which has operated in the evolution of man, it would be wrong to lose 

 sight of the fact that the first step in this upward movement must have been taken 

 by the brain itself. Some cerebral variation — probably trifling and insignificant 

 at the start, and yet pregnant with the most far-reaching possibilities — has in the 

 stem-form of man contributed that condition which has rendered speech possible. 

 This variation, strengthened and fostered by natural selection, has in the end led 

 to the great double result of a large brain with wide and extensive association 

 areas_ and articulate speech, the two results being brought about by the mutual 

 reaction of the one process upon the other. 



The following Papers and Reports were read : — 



1 . The Cartilage of tlie External Ear in the Monotremata in relation to 

 the Himnan Ear. By Professor J. ClelanDj F.R.S. 



2. On the Origin of the Cartilage of the Stapes and on its Continuity with 

 the Hyoid Arch. By J. F. Gesdiill, JI.D. 



The series of sections exhibited showed that in the human subject the whoh» 

 of the cartilage of the stapes is developed independently of the periotic capsule, 

 and that it belongs to the hyoid bar. The sections also illustrate the condition at 

 different stages of that part of the hyoid bar which lies between the stapes and 

 the styloid process. An examination of all the sections in the different series 



