The mirror., 1920-11-04

five years with large party of scientists
in various remote regions of central Asia.
1t will be under the direction and leader
ship of Mr.. Roy Chapman Andrews, As
sociate Curator of Mammals in The Amer
ican 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 $25O,oOo, which is
being provided by The American Museum
of Natural History, The American Asiatic
Association and Asia Magazine, and the
private subscriptions of Mrs. Willard
Straight, Messrs. J. P. 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 excavating
for fossils in central Java, discovered near
Trinil part of SKULL two molar teeth
and a thigh bone, he had unearthed one
of the most perplexing conundrums in the
study of human ancestry. Were the re-
mains those of an extremely early type of
prehuman manlike animal? If so this
ape-man must have lived approximately
five hundred thousand years ago. This
momentous discovery has been supple
mented by that of other indisputably hu-
man remains of which the most ancient,
found in southern Germany, is the jaw of
the so-called Heidelberg man who may be
two hundred and fifty thousand years old.
With the exception of the Java speci
men, all fossil human fragments have been
discovered in Europe or England. Never
theless, the leading scientists of the day
believe that Asia was the early home of
the human race and that whatever light
may be thrown upon the origin of man
will come from the great central Asian
plateau.
The subject is one that makes uni
versal appeal to the imagination. The
causes that led to mans evolution from
the apes, how that evolution was first ac-
complished, what primitive man looked
like and how he lived-these are all sub
jects upon which there is much theory,
but as yet very little fact.
Leaving about the first of next February,
headquarters for the expedition will be
established in Peking. The first year will
be devoted to studies in palaeontology and
zoology in China; the second year the
work will be carried into Mongolia and
geologist will be added to the field staff;
the third, fourth and fifth years archae-
ologists and anthropologists will be sent
out which with the biologists and palaeon-
tologists will carry on work in various
parts of Asia.
The Importance of this region long has
been recognized, but no systematic study
on large scale ever has been attempted,
and there is no similar area of the inhab-
tied surface of the earth about which so
little is known. Whether or not human
remains are found it will yield rich COL
lections in all branches of sciehce.
The material will be exhibited in the
Hall of Asiatic Life in The
American Museum of Natural History,
which it is hoped the city will add to the
Museum buildings in the near future. AT
the present time if one wishes seriously
to study Asiatic zoology one must 60 to
the British Museum of London. It is
hoped that this expedition will bring to
New York the greatest natural history col
lections which the world has ever seen
and will make New York the center of
Asiatic scientific activity.
One of the reasons why so little is known
Of the fossils of China and interior Asia
is that material of this sort is of consider
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