The Catholic bulletin., 1922-09-16

ueIHeSS, the savage, the strange Gil
mate, the new forces and dangers. 1t
was from this tribe of men that arts
and sciences were produced-tr1at civ
ilization arose, law and governments
were formed, and they welded into
one brotherhood the barbarian tribes.
| They taught the arts of peace and ag-
riculture, and from this tribe sprang
the handspring of that system through
which Providence would Judge human
| ity and bring about its desttnies,
whether religious or secular.
Man Ever the Same.
h Centuries upon centuries now have
passed-yes, millions of years, if you
SO wish, have flown and man is still
MAN, the last created being of the
Almighty. OF our so-calIed pre-his-
toric times we know but little; of the
history of bygone ages we can only
family guess.
Frequently we read of some inter-
esting anthropological discovery OF
prehistoric man. These reports come
from various parts of the world and
the remains (bones) are given place
during the Miocene period, about l.
100000 years, or a much later date,
that of the Pleocene period of about
100000 years duration, so that we
have the Piltdown man, the Java. Gil
braltar, the Rhodesian the Neander-
thai, the Heidelberg and many others.
The earliest remains of man yet
found are of what is claimed as the
"Pithecanthropus erectus," discovered
in Java, in 1891. 1t rs put in the
Pleocene period, which is said to
have had duration of 10000 years.
The Neanderthal man is, indeed. a
modern one compared to the Java
man, as he is said to have lived only
between 10000 and $4,000 years ago.
A complete skeleton of early man
has not as yet been discovered. Only
few fragments of bones, perhaps a
tooth, a part of the Uranium or face:
in some case that of a lower jaw, leg
or arm bone, and from these frag-
ments has been built the so-called
prehistoric man and every one yet
found is said to have some character
istics of the ape. -
What does that prove? Many peo-
pie today possess the same character
lstlcs as by-gone man. We have with
us today the 'monkey-jaw man."
where the lower teeth protrude over
the upper ones; and as to construct
ing man as he was hundreds of thou
sands of years ago from small frag-
ment of bone, no two men would pro-
duce the same result. 1t will be re-
constructed not as it was in life but
as we wish it to be- This was proven
when the Java mans bones were dis
covered, and the same happened when
the so-called Neanderthal man was
found.
A Singular Example.
For several years we had in our
possession tooth that for size was
considered a monstrosity, as far as
human teeth are concerned. We ex-
hibited it to several anatomists and
other scientific men, including our es-
teemed friend, the late DR.. Edward
Nolan, who was secretary of the Acad-
emy of Natural Science for over fiffy
years These men acknowledged that
1T had all the characteristics of I'M
man tooth, and they reached the CON
clusion that it could only have be-
longed to one of powerful physique or.
IN other words, a giant That tooth
was extracted from a very frail wom-
an who never weighed over one hum
dred pounds. 1t was, of course. a
tooth among thousands, but perfect
anatomically. Now we believe that
had that tooth been found in some
cave new prehistoric man would
have been built from it.
Accidental CHANCES.
Consider man, bone for bone, mus.
Gle for muscle, there has been very
little change, if any, in the thousands
or hundreds of thousands of years that
have passed. True, some of the char
acteristics have changed due to cli-
matte conditions, but physically as
man (outward form, he has not
changed. The Negro in the jungle of
Africa and the Esquimo Iare to all
outward appearances different, each
lin his anatomical class due to his diff
ferent mode Of living and the climate:
and perhaps mentally there may be
difference, but each is man.
When we were teaching anatomy.
which we did for some years, we dis
sected or assisted at dissections of
| some four hundred human bodies. In
those days we were always on the
lookout for what was considered
perfect head (aratomical1y). The
| nearest to it was from an African: we
had it for some years and presented
| it to one of our foremost anatomists
| what became of it we know NOT.
| Many who were interested in the sub
| ject had gone over it bone for bone
| and pronounced it what they consfd-
cred an almost perfect specimen. No
doubt a few generations back the ne
/ groes' ancestors were members of the
so-called wild tribes of Africa. His
mental equipment if properly used
must have been far in advance of
many Caucasians, who pride them
selves on the long line of ancestors
from which they came.
| There is another class of scientists
who try to trace the creation of man
back before the creation Of the ape.
They claim that our progenitor came
up from the sea, and trace this step
1 49, ~ ,r,,tsf 49,