TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 1001 



tht^ geological sides. From the point of view of the latter the difficulty lies in 

 determining the exact age of what are apparently alluvial bods in the bottom of a 

 river valley.' In regard to these objections, it should be remembered that, though 

 the skull and femur in question are the only remains resembling humanity discovered 

 in the site, it yielded a vast number of fossil bones of other animals, and that any 

 difficulty in settling the geological age must apply to the whole results of the ex- 

 ploration. The physiological difficulties arise in two points — Do the skull and 

 femur belong to the same individual ? Are they or either of them human, or simian, 

 or intermediate ? As to the first, it is true that the two bones were separated by 

 a distance of about fifty feet, but as they were found precisely on the same level, 

 accompanied by no other bones resembling human bones, but by a great number 

 of animal remains, apparently deposited at the same moment, the theory that they 

 belonged to different individuals would only add to the difficulty of the problem. 

 AVith regard to the skull, a projection of its outline on a diagram comparing it 

 with others of low type belonging to the Stone Age shows it to be essentially inferior 

 to any of them. With regard to the thigh, you will recollect that at the Liverpool 

 meeting of this Section Dr. Hepburn displayed a remarkable collection of femora 

 from the anatomical museum of Edinburgh University, exhibiting pathological and 

 other conditions similar to those in the femur of Trinil. Though this evidence 

 tends to show that the bone is human, it is not inconsistent with, but, on the con- 

 trary, goes to support the conclusion that it belongs to an exceedingly low and 

 ancient type of humanity. Whether, therefore, we call the remains Pithecanthro- 

 pus erectus with their discoverer, or Hoino pithecanthropus with Dr. Manouvrier, 

 or Homo Javanensis primigenius with Dr. Houze, we are in presence of a valuable 

 document in the early evolution of mankind. 



One element of special interest in this discovery is that it brings us nearer than 

 we have ever been brought before to the time when man or his predecessor acquired 

 the erect position. I believe that it is acknowledged by all that the femur be- 

 longed to an individual who stood upright, and I presume that the capacity of the 

 skull, being greater than that of any known anthropoid, is consistent with the same 

 inference. The significance of that has been most clearly set forth by my prede- 

 cessor, Dr. Munro, in his address to this Section at Nottingham in 1893. He showed 

 that a direct consequence of the upright position was a complete division of labour 

 as regai"^s the functions of the limbs — the hands being reserved for manipulation 

 and the feet for locomotion ; that this necessitated great changes in the general 

 structure of the body, including the pelvis and the spinal column ; that the hand 

 became the most complete and effective mechanical organ Nature has produced ; 

 and that this perfect piece of mechanism, at the extremity of a freely moving arm, 

 gives man a superiority in attack and defence over other animals. Further, he 

 showed that, from the first moment that man recognised the advantage of using a 

 club or a stone in attack or defence, the direct incentive to a higher bi'ain develop- 

 ment came into existence. The man who first used a spear tipped with a sharp 

 flint became possessed of an irresistible power. In his expeditions for hunting, 

 fishing, gathering fruit, &c., primitive man's acquaintance with the mechanical 

 powers of Nature would be gradually extended ; and thus from this vantage point 

 of the possession of a hand, language, thought, reasoning, abstract ideas would 

 gradually be acquired, and the functions of the hand and the brain be developed in 

 a corresponding manner. I do injustice to Dr. Munro's masterly argument by 

 stating it thus crudely and briefly. It amounts to this — once the erect position is 

 obtained, the actions of man being controlled by a progressive brain, everything 

 follows in due course. 



The next stage which we are yet able to mark with certainty is the palao- 

 lithic, but there must have been a great many intermediate stages. Before man 

 began to make any implements at all, there must have been a stage of more or less 

 length, during which he used any stick or stone that came to his hands without 

 attempting to fashion the one or the other. Before he acquired the art of fashion- 

 ing so elaborate an implement as the ordinary palaeolithic axe or hammer, there 

 must have been other stages in which he would have been content with such an 

 improvement on the natural block of flint as a single fracture would produce, and 



