Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-03-04
EXPEDITION TO JAVA TO SEEK
FOR 1T.
ON vANDERBILT's BOUNTY
Dutch Army Surgeons Valuable Find
Leads to the Hope of Discovering
Fossil of the intermediate Animal
Between Ape and Man-Descrip-
ton of the Coveted Creature.

1
the missing link, that half-man. half
gap in the DarWinian chain. George
Vanderbilt is to defray the expenses
of an American party, which will be
! led by David Walters of New Haven,
Conn. A German party is being or
ganized by Prof Ernest Haeckel, the
eminent naturalist of Jena. DR..
Theodore N. Gill of the Smithsonian
| Institution, says the New York Sun,
gives the following information con-
corning the aims and hopes of the
promoters of these expeditions:
"Of course these expeditions hope
| to find only the fossil remains of
| Pithecanthropus," he said. ''They are
going to make their researches IN
Java, because it was there that DR..
Eugene Dubois, Dutch army surgeon
and paleontologist, recently found par
| tial remains of what many naturalists
believe to have been creature inter
mediate between ape and man. Du-
bois made the discovery on the bank
of the BangaWan, near Trinil, in the
central part of the islands. The re-
mains lay in bed of rock thirteen
or fifteen yards below the vegetable
SOIL They consisted of the upper
portion of skull. two molar teeth
and thigh bone. From the size Of
the skull it has been judged that the
brain Of the creature must have been
greater than that of any ape yet
found and too small for any human
being, that is, in proportion to the
size of the body as indicated by the
other remains The teeth have been
pronounced similar to those OF. man
in that they are hollow at the crown,
yet like those of the ape in that they
diverge at the roots. The thigh bone
indicates that the creature walked in
an upright position-in the posture OF
J a man.
"The name pithecanthropus, which,
from it's Greek derivation. means ape
man, was first used in 1868 by Prof.
Haeckel. The full technical name
now is pithecanthropus erectus, in
other words. an ape man standing
erect. Dubois found the Pithecan-
thropus bones in earth deposits rep
lresenting the tertiary age or geologic
period This fact indicates that the
animal lived and died during that
time, hundreds of thousands of years
ago."
How long was probably required
for the complete change from ape to
man."
Two thousand years was sufficient
time, / should think. 1t is not prob
able that the civilization of which we
have been attained until after man
had been on earth more than 100000
years. The historic period goes back
probably 5000 or 5000 years from the
present"
'Was this change from ape to man
probably taking place at various parts
of the earth at the same timer"
ut probably occurred in one limited
area. 1t was so gradual that it would
have been impossible for one living
during this time to determine which
creature was ape and which was man.
It was simply the result of an innate
tendency to vary in a particular direc-
ton, tendency which manifested it.
self in this single area. Conditions
were favorable to the development.
Advantages were furnished to the be-
ing with new attributes. Then there
was the result that the race thus prop
agated rapidly spread over the
neighoring lands in a comparatively
short time, geographically speaking.
I'VE Will suppose that back in these
ages there was an ape, like the pres
ent chimpanzee, which exhibited SUI
perior intelligence and learned to fight
with sticks or clubs rather than with
tooth and nail. This new faculty he
transmitted to his descendants, who
developed shorter arms, more efficient
for the new mode of warfare. Those
having the shorter arms, there
fore, survived and multiplied in the
struggle for life. The canine teeth
were less used and on this account be-
came smaller and were reduced to 6
level with the others. The gaps be-
tween the teeth gradually closed as
the jaws, used less for fighting, grew
similar. The muscles of the jaws,
likewise, became reduced and the
bones which held them to
the skull became less promi-
nent. AS this superior in
telligence developed, the brain and it's
cavity grew<larger. AS the arms grew
shorter the legs became more and
more convenient for locomotion, and
thus was the erect position attained.
The ape ancestor. of course, had no
tail; hence that appendage was not
part of the pithecanthropus in any
shape of his development"
do you believe Java to be the
proper place to seek pithecanthropus
If you were to set out to find him
would you go there firsL.
Were | to go out and look for
pithecanthropus my only guide would
be the knowledge of where probable
specimens had been already found
would go in their neighborhood.