The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-11
finds TRACE Of
perfect HUMANS
Remains of Man Who Never
Was Sick Are Now IN a
London Museum.
FOSSIL EXTREMELY OLD
Shows That Man Similar to Present
Race Lived Before England
Was an Isle.
;peeial Cable to he Wellington Herald.

Special Cable The Washington Herah.
London. April 1o-In the South Ken
sington Museum a remarkable display
of fossil remains of man has just been
put on view. DR.. Smith Woodward
says of it:
True man. though of very low de-
gree. had certainly reached Europe by
the end of the pliocene or the begin
ming Of the pleistocene period. He
had even spread so far As the south
ern part of England-then united with
the Continent-as proved by the dis
covery of portions of a remarkable
skull and lower jaw in q river gravel
at Plitdown. near Fetching. almost
midway between Browborough and
Lewes. in the Weald of Sussex. This
discovery was made in 1913 by Charles
Dawson.
THE Piltdown gravel had attracted
the attention Of Mr.. Dawson for some
time. because he had noticed In it nu-
merous flints from the chalk. which
could not have been carried to the spot
by any existing stream. The nearest
water course is the River Ouse. which
has cut a valley eighty feet deep. since
the gravel in question was deposited.
and this river at present Has no source
in the chalk. The geography Of the
region. in fact, has completely changed.
and the Piltdown gravel may have
been left not even by the Ouse. but
by some river that has disappeared.
1t is therefore an unusually old river
gravel. preserved by accident. and any
fossil that remains in 1t must natur-
ally be Of Of special interest"
Like . Detective Story.
The discovery of the gravel on an
ancient river bed must be taken as the
first link in a great detective story.
The next link came when workmen
began to dig up the gravel for use on
roads. They dug up human skull.
broke 1t up and threw 1t away.
Zone fragment was fortunately pre-
served and given to Mr.. Dawson, who
recognized its importance and at once
began a search for the remainder of
the specimen. Enough pieces were re-
covered to show the essential peculiar
tiles Of the skull. Part Of the lower
Jaw and lower canine teeth eventually
were found in the adjacent undisturb-
ed gravel. and both implements Of hu-
man workmanship and fragmentary
remains of animals also were met
with"
From the moment of the discovery
the best brains in the world have been
at work on these fragments. Physi-
clans sho what II has no trace of dis
ease and therefore represented Q fair
specimen of the beast man Of those
far-of days. Anthropologists measured
the skull and wondered at its thick
ness. and biologists worked out the ca
pacity Of the huge brain that must
have been inside 1t. Later on NOR
biologists discovered . connection
between the hideous apsliks canine
teeth and the milk teeth OF . modern
child.
DR.. woodward gives as part Of his
conclusions from the investigation Of
all the remains stored up in the mu.
scum:
Older Than British Isle.
Man. having a skeleton identical
with the existing one. has lived in
Western Europe for . long period. dur
iteration of geographical contour and
the dying out of numerous wild quad
rupeds. He was here long before the
British Isles were separated from the
mainlands Of Europe. His immediate
predecessor was q form of man
(Neanderthal or Monsterian), which
more nearly resembles the apes. Still
typically human teeth. had q more
retreating bony chin. suggestive of
closer relationship with the apes.
Finally Piltdown man. which is at
least as old As the Heidelberg, race.
and probably older. had both lower
jaw and front teeth as nearly on the
ape pattern as was compatible with
their working on a human skull of
normal width. Although the facts are
still scanty. it is clear that the further
human remains are traced back in geo.
logical time the more marks they re-
tain of an apelike ancestry. They sug-
gest a gradual approach to q primitive
forest animal with an overgrown
brain. which was destined to begin a
fundamentally new departure in organic
evolution"