216 



L. Manouvr-ier — Pithecanthropus erectus. 



ing. There, the femur was declared human and the skull 

 attributed more or less affirmatively to an anthropoid. 



On the other hand, Cunningham at Dublin and Sir W. 

 Turner at Edinburgh pronounced both skull and femur human ; 

 Rudolph Martin* of the Zurich Univerity was of the same 

 mind. 



Such a divergence of opinions expressed by these anato- 

 mists, all of them so competent, would almost suffice to demon- 

 strate the really intermediate state of the skull from Java, for 

 it is well known how great the difference is between a human 

 skull and that of a monkey. To give occasion for opinions so 

 opposed, it was necessary that the skull from Java should 

 present important characters human and important characters 

 simian. 



That which explains also the divergence in question, is that 

 the human skull drops now and then to a simian level among 

 the microcephalous of all races, and to a level approaching the 

 Pithecanthropus among certain inferior individuals, especially 

 in the lowest savage races. 



The skull from Java is no less remarkable in its general 

 form than in its weak capacity. Its entire median curve is 

 extremely elliptic ; the forehead is extremely narrow and taper- 



FiG. 1 (fig. 53). — Profile of the cranial cap of Trinil; b, Approximate position 

 of the basion ; n, Rudiment of the temporo-occipital crest. 



ing. The lower portion of the frontal bone above the orbits 

 forms a sort of visor of which the relative prominence sur- 

 passes all known proportions in the human species, not except- 

 ing, even, the famous Neanderthal skull. The lateral projec- 

 tion of this visor is not less extraordinary and denotes a great 

 depth of the temporal fosses. The frontal region presents a 



* Kritische Bedenken gegen den Pith, erect, Dubois (Globus, Band lxvii, No. 

 14.) 



