The Ely miner., 1920-11-12
Great Expedition viii Explore Re-
mote Sections of Asia for Most
Primitive Human Remains.
GREATEST EVER ORGANIZED,
China and Mongolia Expected to
Yield Up Treasures in AnthropoI-
ogy and chaeology-chinese
Superstition Big Drawback.

New York-To search for the most
primitive human remains, the 'miss-
ing link" between man and the apes,
will be the object of great expedi-
ton to be sent out by the American
Museum of Natural History in coop
GRAFTON with the American Asiatic as
sociation and Asia Magazine. The ex-
pedition will be the greatest of its
kind which has ever been organized
by any institution in the world and
will work for five years with large
party of scientists in various remote
regions of central Asia. 1t will be un-
der the direction and leadership of
Mr.. Roy Chapman Andrews, Associate
Curator of Mammals in the American
Museum of Natural History, who for
the last ten years has been carrying
on geological explorations in various
parts of the Far East. The expedition
will be financed by fund of $250,OO0,
which is being provided by the Amer
ican Museum of Natural History, the
American Asiatic association and Asia
Magazine. and the private subscrip-
tions of Mrs. Willard Straight, Messrs.
J. r. Morgan, George F. Baker, Childs
Frick, w. A. Hartman and Mr.. and
Mrs. Charles L. Bernheimer.
When in the year 1891. Dutch
army surgeon, Eugene Dubois, while
eycavating for fossils in central Java,
discovered near Trinil part Of skull,
two mofar teeth and thigh bone. he
had uneartheG one of the most per-
picking cOnundrums in the study of
human ancestry. Were the remains
those Of &n extremely early type of
prehuman manlike animal? If so.
this apeman must have lived approx
imstaly five hundred thousand years
ago. This momentOus discovery has
been supplemented by that of other in
disputably human remains of which
the most ancient, found in southern
Germany. is the jaw of the so-caIled
Heidelberg man who may be two hun
dred and fifty thousand years old.
With the exception of the Java spec
linen. all fossil human fragments have
been discovered in Europe or England
Nevertheless. the leading scientists of
the day believe that Asia was the early
home of the human race and that
whatever light may he thrown upon
the origin of man will come from the
great central Asian plateau.
Appeals to imagination.
The subject is one that makes
universal appeal to the Imagination.
The causes that led to mans evolu-
tion from the apes. how that evolu-
tion was first accomplished, what
primitive man looked like a.,d how he
lived-these are all subjects upon
very little fact.
Leaving about the first of next Feb
ruary. headquarters for the expedition
viii be established in Peking. The
first year will be devoted to studies
in paleontology and zoology in China
the second year the work will be car
ried into Mongolia and geologist will
be added to the field staff; the third,
fourth and fifth years psychologists
and anthropologists will be sent out
which with the biologists and pale
ontologists will carry on work i'm vari-
Gus part of Asia.
The importance of this region long
has been recognized. but no system
attic study on a large scale ever has
been attempted, and there is no sim
liar area of the inhabited surface of
the earth about which so little is
known. Whether or not human re-
mains are found it will yield rich col
lections in all branches of science.
The material will be exhibited in the
proposed Hall of Asiatic Life in the
American Museum of Natural History,
which it is hoped the city will add to
.he Museum buildings in the near fu-
ture. At the present time if one