The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-10-05
MANS DESCENT.
DR.. Wortman's Great Discovery in
Wyoming.
rs 1T THE SKELETON OF THE
MISSING LINK.
If So, 1t Establishes the Complete Chain
in the Evolution of Man.

If So, 1t Establishes the Complete Chain
in the Evolution of Man.
Denver, Col. Sept. 81, 1s95.-Dr. j. l..
Workman, of the Museum OF Natural Ills
tory, Central Park, New York, goes nome
with what is probably regarded as the
greatest trophy that scientist ever gath
cred. He claims to have the missing link
that establishes the developments OF man
from the Simian ancestry to the present.
noble status Of humanity.
The Doctor is not disposed to be BOAST
full of his talents, but in conversation re-
veals his belief in the facts that ne IN
dorses. I saw him at the WINDSOR
Hotel last night, and for the nrsO ullne
the Doctor told the story OF his marvellous
discovery.
Two bodies a million and half years
old-remains that discount the Pharaohs,
about which so much has been SAID anu
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. that retain all their
pristine lines, and which, with llttle
aid from science, can be rebuilt to the
form of the original. Incased in the her.
metical sealing of the rocks OF untold cons
and cemented with natural forma1lon
that is impenetrable to air and moisture
these specimens OF remote antiquity were
securely preserved for the edlncatlon Oh
th ousands who patronize Central Park
WE'RE sWATHED IN COTTON.
The mummies or efigies were incased
in bandages of cotton and sWatneo III
clothes that protected them from the
damaging effects of exposure to the air
before receiving proper treatment.
The Doctor talked at length about MS
find
aProbably some misrepresentation ex-
ists,' he explained, with regard to the
relation of this monkey from Wyoming TO
the genus homo. 1t can not be properly
claimed that the Wyoming discovery rur-
nishes link in the immediate ancestry
of the human family. When the paleon-
tologist wishes to decipher the complete
history of any CT the great strains OF 1he
mammal, it is necessary for him to have
nroper beginnings, and one Of the great
est difficulties has been in the study OF
the archaeological history OF the order
Of primates, or quadrnmana, to discover
a close and intimate connection between
what are Familiarity known as lemurs' OF
half apes, and the true monkeys.
uFor many years remains have been
taken from these Wyoming lake ueposlts
that we have never been able to deter
mine with eyactness with reference 10
whether they were true monkeys OF
lemurs. OF all the true monkeys thaS
now exist. those which inhabit South
America are the most primitive, and it
has been a question for many years
whether or not these monkey-like forms
that are found in Wyoming deposits were
not the ancestors of the South American
species living today.
IMPORTANCE OF THE FIND.
"Upon this question the Wyoming lind
is all important, and, ii 1T ultimately
turns out that such is the case, which IS
now very strongly suspected, then we
have no anatomical difficulty IN tracing
the line of the human ancestry back to
that remarkable primitive beginning
which we now find in the living lemurs
"With respect to the evidence which now
is at hand connecting the higher types OF
apes with the lower forms of the human
family, the discovery of the manilke ape
of Java in deposits which are now gener-
ally admitted to be of the pllocene age,
goes long way toward setting at rest
the genuine and true anatomical position
of the famous manderthal skull.
"Probablv most readers are familiar
with the bitter discussions that have for
the past ten or fifteen years taken place
upon this famous relic. Opinion has
been very much divided as to whether 1t
pertained to q man of inferior mental
capacity or idiot or whether it is the
representation Of race Of very low brain
DEVELOPMENT Even so great an authority
as Virchow, the German savant came to
the conclusion that, without further evil
dences, it could not at present be conclud-
ed that the manderthal skull could be re-
garded as demonstrating any closer con-
nection between the manlike apes and the
lower forms of the human family that we
already knew.
ssSubseauent discoveries, however, ma
terially strengthened the opinion that
there was race Of manderthal men,
With this discovery of the Java specimen,
we now have three widely separated and
distinct examples of race OF men which,
there can be little doubt, were the pro-
genitors of the human family, and who,
SO far as their anatomy is concerned,
stood half way between the anthropold
apes and the human species. F."
BEARS UPON EARLY GENEALOGY.
"Then do you think the Wyom ing
monkey was very manlike in his general
appearance"
"The Wyoming find has more distinct
bearing upon the early part of the gene
alogy of the human race than upon it's
latter part, and it will probably be ulti-