The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-08-06
REBUILDS The
missing link.
Science ReCOnStruCtS Model of
The Oldest Skull.
LITTLE BRAIN, HUGE TEETH

Woman Whose Bones Were Used May
Have Lived $4,000 or 100000 or Even
100000 Years Ago, but Probably In
the Pliocene Period-A Half Human,
Half Smian, Being.
A scientifically reconstructed skull Of
the oldest woman in the world is now
on exhibition at the Natural History
museum iii South Kensington, Lon
don.
1t was the discovery of the frag-
mentary remains OF the original skull
that sent such thrill of excitement
throughout the scientific world last
autumn, when Charles Dawson IN
earthed ii from a pit at Piltdown
common. Sussex, and a great COM
pany of distinguished professors gath
cred at the meeting of the Geological
society, where the discovery was first
made public.
The skull is not an object of beauty,
even as skulls may be regarded as
varying In gracefulness, but in her de-
Tense it may be pleaded that the wo-
man was semi-simian. combining in
herself traits of the human being with
characteristics of the ape.
Scientists regard her as the one spec
linen extant of the missing link
Her age eludes one even now. She
may have lived $4,000 years ago or
100000 or even 100000, for biologists
| agree TO differ upon so delicate a sub
ject. but it is believed that she be-
1onpc 20 fba rIiocapa raar;11
Important Discovery.
The discovery of her remains forms
one of the most romantic incidents in
the history of geological research. and,
| although a pilgrimage of scientists to
England to inspect them is not pre-
! dicted this year, no geologist from Eu-
rope or America who finds himself in
London this summer will be likely to
miss the opportunity of having a call
upon her at the museum.
! The actual remains are not exhibited
to the general public. Savants and stu
I dents may examine them, however
/ These remains comprised no more than
/ a portion of the left side of the skull
and piece of the lower jaw. but with
4 these as a guide Frank Barlow has
i succeeded in reproducing what is re
/ garded as a faithful and trustworthy
/ model of the whole by careful Obser
walton and scientific deduction.
i The task of making the model occu
i pied Mr.. Barlow many weeks. By not
/ ing the formation of the left half OF
the skull. he explained, it was possible
to build up the right side with a con
siderable degree of certainty. On tn,
same plan the lower jaw could be com
pleted with a sure touch, and the con
formation of the whole skull could thus
be satisfactorily established
The appearance of the facial bone:
and the upper jaw is largely conjec
ture, but the jaw bone is in every re
spect characteristic of that of the
chimpanzee, and Mr.. Barlow said thai
in constructing the model he followed
the logical course, providing it with
dental equipment OF the simian type.
No modern human being possesse,
teeth of the size and shape of those
seen in the model, and. more than any
thing else, the powerful teeth of the
heavy under jaw serve to emphasize
the apelike characteristics Of THU
primitive being.
Very Small Brain.
A cast of the brain taken from the
restored skull is also on view. While
the brain cavity of the normal human
being measures more than ninety Gu
bic inches, this pliocene skull has 8
capacity of no more than 64A cubic
inches, showing that the brain develop
ment in modern woman is more thar
one-third greater than that of hei
semiSimian ancestor.
From the greater development of the
brain at the btck of the left lobe is
judged that the individual was right
handed, another item in the chain OF
evidence proving that the skull is OF
the human species.
There can be little doubt that the
Piltdown woman's remains are the
earliest yet uncovered, older than the
fragments found at Neanderthal
Prussia, in 1856, or even the jaw found
OF Heidelberg in 1907
. Some scientists, Professor Klaatsch
among them, hold that this primitive
type was driven back and extirpated
by the higher race of man which eX.
listed contemporaneously with it on
: earth. There is, however. no evidence