Mar six — On the Pithecanthropus erectus. 475 



Art. LV. — On the Pithecanthropus erectus, from the 

 Tertiary of Java ; by O. C. Marsh* (With Plate XIII.) 



Near the beginning of last year, a discovery was announced 

 that excited great interest throughout the scientific world, espe- 

 cially among those interested in the origin and antiquity of 

 man. The announcement first made was that remains of a 

 veritable missing link between man and the higher apes had 

 been found in Java, in strata of Pleistocene age. The dis- 

 covery was made by Dr. Eugene Dubois, a surgeon in the 

 Dutch army, who had been stationed in Java for several years, 

 and had devoted much time to the vertebrate fossils of that 

 island. 



The first definite information received in this country was in 

 December, 1894, when Dubois's memoir on Pithecanthropus 

 arrived.f One of the first copies reached the late Professor 

 Dana just as he was printing the last pages of his great work 

 on geology. He at once wrote to me in Washington, asking me 

 to look up the memoir, and telegraph my opinion of the dis- 

 covery, so that he could refer to it in his book. On inquiry, I 

 ascertained that this memoir had not then been received at any 

 of the scientific centers in Washington, and that the discovery 

 itself was not known. On returning to New Haven, I found a 

 copy of the memoir awaiting me (received December 29, 1894), 

 and at Professor Dana's, request, I wrote a review of it, which 

 appeared, with illustrations, in this Journal for February, 1895.J 



The memoir of Dr. Dubois was an admirable one, and, 

 although written in Java, with only limited facilities for con- 

 sulting the literature on the subject and for comparing the 

 remains described with living and extinct forms to which they 

 were related, the author showed himself to be an anatomist of 

 more than usual attainments, and fully qualified to record the 

 important discovery he had made. In my review, therefore, 

 of this important memoir, I endeavored to state fairly the 

 essential facts of the discovery, as well as the main results 

 reached by Dr. Dubois after a careful study of the remains. 



* Abstract of communication made to the National .Academy of Sciences at 

 Washington, April 24-, 1896. 



f Pithecanthropus erectus. Eine menscheoaehnliche Uebergangsform aus Java. 

 Yon Eug. Dubois, Militairarzt der niederla^ndisch-indischen Armee. Mit zwei 

 Tafela und drei in den Text gedruckten Figurem 4to, Batavia, 1894. 



X The figures then given in Plate II are repeated in the plate accompanying the 

 present article. 



