Pithecanthropus erectus.
But these investigations all fade into relative insignificance compared with the sensation caused by the discovery made by Dr. Dubois in Java in 1891. Dr. Eugene Dubois was a graduate of Leyden University who, besides having some knowledge of geology and palæontology, had attained distinction in anatomy. Between 1890 and 1896 he was stationed in Java, as surgeon to the Dutch Indian army, and by order of the Government he conducted some explorations with a view to determining the fossil fauna which had been discovered in those parts many years before. While examining the beds attributed to the Pleistocene period below the dry season level of the Bengawan River, at Trinil, he found the teeth, calvarium, and femur of the now world-famous Pithecanthropus erectus. This was announced even in scientific journals as “The ‘Missing Link’ found at last.” Dubois published his account in Java in 1894, and since that date a vast amount of literature has accumulated round the subject, representing the three antagonistic points of view. Some, like Virchow, Krause, Waldeyer, Ranke, Bumüller, Hamann, and Ten Kate, claim a simian origin for the remains; Turner, Cunningham, Keith, Lydekker, Rudolf Martin, and Topinard believed them to be human; while Dubois, Manouvrier, Marsh, Haeckel, Nehring, Verneau, Schwalbe, Klaatsch, and Duckworth ascribe them to an intermediate form. The last-mentioned sums up the evidence in these words: “I believe that in Pithecanthropus erectus we possess the nearest likeness yet found of the human ancestor, at a stage immediately antecedent to the definitely human phase, and yet at the same time in advance of the simian stage.”[[57]]
[57]. “The lowest term of the human series yet discovered is represented by Pithecanthropus, and dates from some part of the Pleistocene epoch” (W. J. Sollas, Science Progress, 1908, p. 353). See also W. Volz, Neues Jahrb. f. Mineral., 1907.
The English, as Dr. Dubois somewhat slyly noted, claimed the remains as human; while the Germans declared them to be simian; he himself, as a Dutchman, assigned them to a mixture of both.
The geological horizon in which the remains of Pithecanthropus erectus were discovered is still an open question. Of late opinion seems to tend towards regarding it as belonging to the early Pleistocene instead of the Pliocene, to which it was at first referred.[[58]] After reviewing all the evidence concerning Tertiary man, Professor Sollas concludes:—“We have now reached the end of this summary, and find ourselves precisely where we were, having obtained no evidence either for or against the existence of man in times previous to the great Ice Age” (loc. cit., p. 350).
[58]. The terms Magdalenian, Solutrian, Aurignacian, Mousterian, Acheulian, Chellian, refer to various epochs of culture in Palæolithic times, giving their sequence from the newest to the most ancient. These epochs are further sub-divided by some investigators, and several, if not all of them, are connected by intermediate stages. In other words, the remains prove that a steady evolution in culture has taken place. Nowhere do all these layers occur in one locality, and the evidence of their order is a matter of stratigraphy (i.e., it is essentially a geological method). Palæontology decides on the animal remains found in the beds. The human anatomist discusses the human remains, and the archæologist deals with the artifacts or objects made by man. The accurate determination of the order of the beds is obviously of fundamental importance.
The discovery of these human remains has had a very noticeable effect on anthropometry. Most of them are imperfect, some very much so; as in the case, for example, of the partial calvaria of Pithecanthropus and of the Neanderthal specimen. The remains are of such intense interest that they stimulated anatomists to a more careful analysis and comparison with other human skulls and with those of anthropoids. As time rolled on, new ways of looking at the problems suggested themselves, which led to the employment of more elaborate methods of measurement or description. Almost every specimen of fossil man has led to some improvement in technical research; and the subject is not yet exhausted, as the character of the inner walls of the crania have not yet yielded all their secrets, more particularly in regard to the brains which they once protected. It would be tedious to enumerate the names of those who have studied even the two calvaria just mentioned, and impossible to record all of those who have advanced our knowledge of the anatomy of fossil man.
Chapter V.
COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY