Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-08
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Science IS not merely guessing when
1t reconstructs the story Of mans rise
from the apes out Of few scattered
bones and stone implements, DR.. Fay
Cooper Cole, head of the division OF
anthropology and psychology Of the
National Research Council, told the
Anthropological Society Of Washington
in the first Of a series Of lectures at
the National Museum last night.
Starting with the earliest known pre-
human skeletal material, the pithocan-
thropus Of Java, DR.. Cole said that
science is about equally divided as to
whether these are the bones Of bah
DON or Of a creature which should be
placed in the human family-and this
very division of opinion shows that the
animal is almost the ideal missing
link"
The find consisted Of only a skull
cap, a femur bone and some teeth. The
teeth, he said, were so constructed that
the animal must have chewed with
rotary motion, like human being,
while all the great apes with their in
terlocking canine teeth chew with an
up-and-down motion. The structure of
the teeth, however, still is only semi
human In addition the bones showed
that he could have walked erect and
that the cubic capacity of the brain was
thropoids.
Brain Structure Indicated.
The fossil skulls, DR.. Cole said, al
ways show something of the structure
of the brains that they once contained.
That of pithicanthropus was quite
simple, with little development OF the
frontal lobe which is a characteristic
of the human race. The skull also shows
that the face was projected mucn more
than that of true human being.
"Pothicanthropus," he said. was
either the most ape-hke man or man
like ape known to science. I do not
know on what side of the line to place
him, but that is not the point"
Among the most remarkable evil
dences Of an ape-like ancestry OF man
vet found. he said, is an actually FOSSIL
lied brain found in a South African
rock quarry. This probably could never
be duplicated because the soft tissues
of the brain almost inevitably decay
long before the fossilization process
could take place. The brain is tnat
of young ape, but is larger man Cha a!
of any present-day anthrcpoids. Ii
was. he said, unquestionably that OF
creature who had come long way
from the apes, but was not yet over
the line Of humanity.
Teeth Again Important.
The teeth again are the important
| features of jawbone found near
Heidelberg, Germany. showing tnat tne
| long extinct creature chewed like
man, although the structure OF the Jaw
! throws grave doubt on whether ne WaS
able to talk. Here again the race wa
massive, like that Of an ape, ana pro-
| iected forward. Nothing is known
about the brain of the animal.
The next find Of Importance, DR.
| Cole said. consists of q skull, jaw-bone
and some teeth found near Pltdown
ENGLAND. which have been the subject
of much controversy. The skull. al
though very thick-walled, seems un-
doubtedly that Of a woman. The jaw
| liz that Of q chinpanzee. The teeth are
human. 1t is by no means certain
| that all these remains came from the
The age Of these relics, he pointed
nut. Is the subject of the latest con-
| troversy among anthropologists. The
geological formation is badly mixed, and
| If the oldest date represented were as
signed to the bones 1t would indicate
that human beings existed in England
| in a past so distant that it is almost
unbelievable. At the recent meeting
| OF the AueIlCdIl <1ocOCActlOLI lux LIlc
Advancement of Science, at Des Moines
these remains were cited by DR.. Henry
Fairfield Osborn Of the New York
Museum Of Natural History as one OF
his arguments for placing mans origin
| 500, OOO. 900 years in the past, whereas
| the most radical estimates of the age
| of the pithecanthropus remains are
around 100000 years.
Piitdown Relic Latest.
There is no reason, Dr. Cole said
| for departing from the conservative
nractice of dating the Piltdown re-
mains at the latest time represented
by and of the geological deposits. which
would make them about 100000 years
old. Another point of controversy i;
the reconstruction of the skull. Some
anthropologists give 1t approximately
the same brain capacity as modern
man, while others make it very much
inferior.
The next step in the reconstruction
that of the Neanderthal man, Is much
simpler, he said, because Of the great
er evidence. Bones Of this race Of
semi-humans have been found in many
places, dating from the third inter.
glacial period, about 10000 years ago
The species by this time had come q
long way toward humanity.
Neanderthal man. he said. wa,
caught in Central Europe by the Ice
| sheet and forced to take up his abode
In caves. Before that he presumably
had lived in the open But he carried
into the caves With him knowledge Of