L. Manouvrier — Pithecanthropus erectus. 233 



between human skulls more or less affected by microcephaly 

 and the skull of Trinil would not contradict the hypothesis 

 according to which this last would represent an ancestral race. 

 This resemblance, on the contrary, would be perfectly con- 

 formable to the theory of evolution, and it exists. "Without 

 going beyond civilized races, we know that complete micro- 

 cephaly carries man back to a level with the monkeys. It is 

 then solely the poverty of our collections which has kept us 

 from finding, among the lowest human races, skulls as pithe- 

 coid as that of Trinil. The skulls presented by Sir W. Turner, 

 in his interesting memoir on the subject, approach it only 

 partially. It is the same with the Sambaqui skull which Pro- 

 fessor A. Nehring of Berlin has just confronted with that of 

 Trinil.* 



Crania approaching more nearly to that from Trinil under 

 the double aspect of form and of capacity will certainly be 

 found, but they will be crania very inferior to the average 

 of their race ; they will be the microcephalous, the abnormals. 



Nothing would better serve to show that the species of 

 Pithecanthropus and the human species penetrate into each 

 other and are mutually bound together. The bond would 

 be still more complete if we should find some day, by virtue 

 of inverse operation, a whole fossil series of the race Pithe- 

 canthropus erectus, of which the superior extremity would 

 accord morphologically with the average of our lowest races. 



To invalidate the legitimate and probable hypothesis of Mr. 

 Dubois, it would be necessary to show that the skull of Trinil 

 is a simple monstrosity without ethnologic signification. This 

 chance would be mathematically possible, since the race of 

 Trinil must have had, as others, its microcephalous individuals ; 

 and it is for that reason that the opinion opposed to that of 

 Mr. Dubois can pride itself, until there has been further inves- 

 tigation, in one possibility as against thousands of contrary 

 possibilities. The improbability of a case of submicrocephaly 

 coincident with a stature at least medium seems to me still 

 greater since I have seen the two molars of Trinil, for teeth 

 too large and too long for a normally developed savage would 

 attest, in case of human microcephaly, one more singularity; a 

 microcephaly which would have exaggerated, not only the 

 volume of the teeth with reference to the skull, but also the 

 absolute volume of the teeth beyond the ethnic maximum. 



The hypothesis of a case of microcephaly being cast aside, 

 two others remain. 



1st. During the Pliocene epoch, there lived in Java a 

 human race intermediate between the lowest of known races 

 and anthropoids. 



*Ein Pithecanthropus-ahnlicher Menschenschadel, etc. (Naturwissenschaft- 

 liche Wocheuschnft, 17, Nov. 1895.) 



