148 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
cavity and of roots. In Neanderthal man the pulp cavity 
attained remarkable dimensions (fig. 50, D) ; the cavity 
has extended downwards at the expense of the roots, 
which accordingly become very short. The molar teeth 
are large in crown and body and exceedingly short in 
root. In C (fig. 50) the lower molar found at Taubach 
(see p. 131) is represented. It has the Neanderthal 
characters. To this peculiar form of molar tooth which 
became evolved in Neanderthal man I have proposed 
the name of " taurodont," because in general form there 
is a resemblance to the molar teeth of the ox.^ To the 
more primitive, form, seen in apes and also in modern 
types of men, the name " cynodont " is given, because 
there is a superficial resemblance to the condition found 
in the molars of the dog. When I first studied Dr 
AdlofPs observations and conclusions I admit that I was 
not convinced that Neanderthal teeth represented a 
high degree of specialisation. 1 was still, as was then 
the case of many anatomists, under the belief that 
Neanderthal man represented our Pleistocene ancestral 
form. Even when I came to study the Neanderthal 
teeth found at St Brelade in Jersey" I still clung to 
the hope that the taurodont form of tooth — seen in 
Neanderthal man — might have reverted to the more 
primitive or cynodont form during the evolution of 
modern man from a Neanderthal type. That belief 
I now see to be untenable, and I admit that in the 
character of the teeth Neanderthal man has departed 
widely from the primitive or simian type, while races 
of the modern type have retained the older or more 
simian type of molar tooth. In short, with all his 
primitive or simian features, there are certain structural 
modifications in which Neanderthal man shows a greater 
degree of specialisation than men of the modern type 
do. We saw such a feature in the gutter or groove 
at the entrance to the nose. The nasal gutter is a 
' See " Problems relating to the Teeth of the Earlier Forms of Pre- 
historic Man," Proc. Roy. Soc. of Med.., 191 3, vol. vi. (Odont. Sect.), p. i, 
- See reference, p. 125. 
