Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1896-03-03
LONDON PICKS a BONE.
OTIS IT BELONG TO MAN, APE OR MISS
ING LINKg
orr m the London Correspondent of the NJ

Socketv. and there was In side hill In
JAVA a skull, thigh bone and two teeth,
and thereby hangs q tale. There u no
uusEtion about what the ADthropoloRtcal
society Is, but there Is great deal OF
out|stiou as to whether or not the skull,
the|thiph bone and the two molars belong
TO 4 human being, an anthropoid ape or
the ''missing link" or are portioned of
eau|ltably among the three. No new baby
wal ever examined so carefully by Its
mamma and papa az this skull by the
AnIhropological Society.
III the meantime the skull Is not saying
a Word about it. In age 1t Is quite the
eor|al OF the oldest English families. III
IL has seen a day II has seen million
wears. IL It isn't the missing link" II Ia
the| nearest 10 the missing link" OF any
thibg yet unearthed. IL was dug out OF
the pliocene strata, In which no human
ho,Ies have ever been found before.
professor Du Bots, the discoverer OF
the "bones," was sent tn Java by the
Dutch Government TO do nothing else
butt make geological studies for period
OF i've years. He didn't strike ''psy dirt
until Il was almost time for him To re-
III.
sorhe time OF the "Java Remains, but IL
Is Only of Late that they have been able
to lee them. Professor Du Bois, after
getting the opinions OF the Germans on
the , brought them over 10 the Brlions
Firk 81 he took them 10 Dublin, then To
Edlubargh, for Inspection by the selcci
fep| anthropologsts In each place, and
finllly the supreme court, the great aud
the only Anthropolcgica Society oil Lon
dob, has had its opportunity.
The Anthropologics Society does moth
inpI by halves, and doesn't do whole
things in hurry. The Evil One couldn't
ho,Idwink tbem-but they don't believe
In |he Evil One. by the way, or In any
thibg else.thst can't be proved, pbysio-
logically, snstomlcally, pathclogiciily
and geologically.
'fhe household gods Of the Authropo-
| logical Society are a huge gorills's skeie-
tori aud the skull OF An Australian native,
which lie on the long table, back OF which
lit the president and the officers. Che
| Auktralian native had the narrowest es-
ca,Ie Of all living races OF the missing
link The benches where the visitors
and the members at will hold about 100
nelson's, and that was all Ia London who
took enough Interest 10 the "missiug
link to go and see it, while at many
MEETINGS of the famous society not more
tha|n fifty are present.
| There are a few young men In the So
Gle " So learned that one Is awcstrucs
whEn one thinks OF how much they will
knJw when they are n old ~ the Others.
Thk average age Of The members cannot
be much less than G5, and the rosy cheeks
OF Eome of the octogenarians seem To de-
noi|e that anthropology IL healthy
scilnce.
1lhey may be enthusiasts, but they are
! no,l enthusiastic. No matter IL the whole
| skeleton Of the ''missing link" lay on
the| long table after their arrival, they
wohld sip lust sO much tea In just 50
mnby minutes and say, "How do you
dob Ia the same mild manner 10 the
strEngers as 10 their friends before they
ebt into the meeting room 10 have a
| look at the subject under discussion. No
China vase was ever handled so gently
as dhese remains" by these graybeards
whb were compeers OF Oar ain and HuX-
| lev h nd who are now doing the work Oar
will left undone. How insignificant TO their
mi Ids were the old Grecian marbles IN
the Museum beside u petrifcd skull,
fenIu and two molars a million years
of ge,
Not one single little abrasion escaped
thelr attention. As the time for Professor
Du Bois's talk approached the living
sk, lis that bent over the petrified skull
bee bme whittier and whittier the older fel-
low s-Fellows all, Of some Royal Society
hid taken more time for slipping their
tea
Az last came one who needed only \
scy the and the sandy hour glass for abso-
| lutl proof that he WAS none other than
Father Time himself, who, indeed, looked
moEe ike Father Time than the picture:
| OF him that We see at New Years time
Father Time ran his accomplished hand
owe the remains, viewing them from
al points, and then had he only spoken Il {
wotd a mere layman would have prompt
ly believed that he was the "rcmains'
nJertaker.
thai this Is the "missing link, or as neat
10 the missing link" as anything that
viii ever be found. IL stands half way
bet \ cen man aud the highest ape. Other
linlIs that stand between IL and man, OF
|; hid the gorilla, will be always warmly
We fomsd by the society. The Professor:
argument In support of his theory was
ingtnuous and tremendous in its techni-
cal lies. and only fragments Of II were
ans Eered by those opposed to his theory
Ele showed that the femur would be
| taGl, for "A huunau faunur ayaatf on nh.
clolest examination which revealed one
poll that Was more or less apelike; that
oneIof the molars, which was much
lsriker than that of man, was smaller
tina b molars he had seen in the skulls OF
ultralian savages which WAS abundant
" dorroborated by ANTAGONISTS present)
thai the other molar, which was smaller,
had been worn away as Is sometimes the
cash in human beings that the back part
of the skull was more like that OF a hui
NAB being, and the front part more like
thai Of an ape, and that its capacity was
500lcubic centimetres, considerable more
thai gorilla Of the same size, and only
l00Icubic centimetres less than that OF
sonic Australians. Only the crown OF the
skull Is present. IL looks like the
|
a lJrge slice of the forehead taken of
The skull and the femur were found
lift feet apart, and Professor Du Bois
thinks that their separation was due to
volcanic upheavals, it being possible
that the ''remains" might have lived In
the Pompeii of his day.
After the Professor sat down, highly
distinguished looking old gentleman,
Wild had apparently been doing through
the lecture, arose. He said that he had
heatd Professor Du Bots speak in Ger
mail at "a German conference, as well as
he al In English this evening, and that
he Had no doubt but that the Professor
spoke French quite as nuently. He had
head Professor Du Bois's cOuntrymen
speaking every language, except Dutch,
at vkrious European conferences. From
this he gradually worked up to Il climax
of RICE things. Then he said that he be-
lievb I'D that the skull was simply the skull
Of alb ape, and the femur simply the femur
of slhuman being, showing In his arg u
merit that not word OF the Professor
hadlescaped him, and that was all there
was, Ito it.
Another old gentleman believed exact
ly the opposite, and held that the large
exc escence at one end of the femur was
dueko the Justification Of the tendons, a
dise,se almost AS rare as missing links,
whith would so incapacitate an ape that
he buld not get his daily bread, and he
wotld have been devoured by his fellows
"a hypothesis which suggests to the
Ia vrhan that the niece of skull the teeth