214: L. 2fanouvrier — Pithecanthropus erectus. 



the inscription to be deciphered is far from being perfect ; the 

 letters remaining are few. But these are the initials, and in 

 the connection in which they are found, chance has served 

 science almost as well as a judicious choice among all the parts 

 of the skeleton could have done. 



The two molars represent, in reality, in addition to the max- 

 illary bones and the face, the vegetative function ; the femur 

 represents the function of locomotion ; what is left of the skull 

 suffices to give important indications as to the cerebral and 

 intellectual development. 



Although these different pieces were found separated a cer- 

 tain distance one from the other, the conditions of the deposit 

 and the circumstances of the excavations have convinced Mr. 

 Dubois .that they belonged to one and the same individual. He 

 has made a thorough and very careful study of them,* of 

 which the conclusion is that they attest the existence, in the 

 Pleistocene epoch, of an anthropoid species of biped inter- 

 mediate between the known anthropoids and the human 

 species, precursor of the latter and probably descended from 

 the genus Hylobates (Gibbon). In consequence, the new spe- 

 cies received the name of Pithecanthropus erectus. 



Strongly supported as they were, these conclusions were des- 

 tined to move more or less, not only the specialists in zoology, 

 anthropology, and paleontology, but also the entire thinking 

 world. Appearing toward the end of the year 1894:, Mr. 

 Dubois' memoir was not slow in provoking criticisms and dis- 

 cussions, the history of which is not without some interest. 



January 3, 1895, I communicated to the Paris Society of 

 Anthropologyf a detailed estimate, based upon the study of 

 the drawings, photogravures and tables, contained in Mr. 

 Dubois' paper, and which, in part favorable to the conclusions 

 of the author, may be summed up as follows : 



It is not certain that the specimens in question belonged to 

 the same individual nor even to a single species, but it is pos- 

 sible, for there is no lack of anatomical correlation among the 

 different pieces. 



The femur, for the human species and according to my 

 tables for the reconstitution of the stature % would correspond 

 to a height of about l'657 m . This femur, by its pilastric index§ 

 or index of a transverse section at the middle point of the 



* Pithecanthropus erectus, eine menschenashnliche Uebergaugsform aus Java 

 (Batavia Landesdruckerei, 1894). 



f Discussion du Pithec. erectus comme precurseur presume de l'homme (Bull. 

 Soc. d'Anthr., fasc. 1, 1895). 



\ Mem. sur la determin. de la taille d'apres les grands os des membres (Mem. 

 Soc. d'Anthr. de Paris, § 2, t. iv, 1892). 



§ J&tude sur les variations morph. du corps du femur dans l'espece hum. (Bull. 

 Soc. d'Anthr., 1893.) 



