Vogt.
Carl Vogt (1864), who, like so many other zoologists then and since, was led to study anthropology, pointed out that “the ape-type does not culminate in one, but in three, anthropoid apes.” On examining the species of mankind and their history, he arrived at similar results (see also p. [66]).
In the second volume of his Generelle Morphologie (1866) Haeckel applied the theory of evolution to the whole organic kingdom, including man, and drew up the first “genealogical trees.” This attempt was improved and treated in a more popular form in his Natural History of Creation (1868), and again in the Evolution of Man (1879), an enlarged edition of which was published in 1905.
There is now a practical agreement among zoologists and anthropologists that man is included in one of several families that constitute the sub-order Anthropoidea of the order Primates.
As has previously been mentioned, the discovery of Pithecanthropus raised great discussions, some of which were concerning the exact position of man with regard to the various higher apes. It is now generally admitted that Pithecanthropus may be regarded as a member of a separate family of the Anthropoidea, the Pithecanthropidæ, between the Simiidæ and the Hominidæ. The re-examination of the previously known skulls of palæolithic age, and the discovery of fresh specimens in recent years, have re-opened the question whether the genus Homo contains more than the one species, H. Sapiens. Duckworth[[79]] (1904) has given a careful summary of the morphological characters of the Neanderthal, Spy, and Krapina remains, and states as his opinion that “the individuals thus characterised are associated in a group specifically distinct from the modern Hominidæ, to which the name Homo primigenius or Homo neanderthalensis has been applied.”[[80]]
[79]. L.c. pp. 520-542; cf. also Man, 1902, p. 186.
[80]. See also W. J. Sollas, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., B. 199, 1907, p. 281.
Those authors who describe and classify the various races and peoples of mankind at the same time indicate their geographical distribution, and in some instances notify some of the shiftings and migrations that have taken place. Many maps have been prepared to illustrate the human distribution in whole or in part, and these are to be found in various memoirs and books. An atlas such as Dr. G. Gerland’s Atlas der Völkerkunde (1892) summarises a vast amount of information.
Our knowledge is very imperfect concerning the movements of mankind. Historical records give some information on the subject. A certain amount has been gleaned from traditional sources, but doubtless much more remains to be garnered. The spoils of the archæologist afford important data, but there are immense tracts of country which are yet totally unexplored, or very imperfectly investigated. All shiftings of peoples are mainly controlled by climatic and geographical conditions; but these are continually varying, and it is the business of the geographer and geologist to indicate what these have probably been at various periods since the appearance of man on this earth. It is not too much to say that, when maps have been prepared which indicate these various changes, great light will be thrown upon the early history of mankind.