The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-31
LADDER OF rs
STEPS is BUILT
FOR MANS RISE
New Evolutionary Outline
Revealed at Convention
by AnthropoIogiSt.

~ science service
ATLANTIC CITY. N. J., Dec. 81.
A new evolutionary ladder of TWEEN
> ty-five steps, up which the human
race assembled from the lowest
known type of backboned animals.
was outlined here Friday by Profess
sor William X. Gregory Of the
American Museum. of Natural His
tory, in mis- address as vice-presi-
dent Of the anthropoiogical section
of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
The first complete ladder of this
kind, Professor Gregory said, was
constructed by the German zoolo-
gist, Haeckel But because certain
of Haeckel's views have fallen into
disfavor with the present genera
ton of biologists. the entire scheme
of descent which he originated Is
more or less neglected.
The new snthropogeny' proposed
by Professor Gregory. takes advan-
tage of data discovered since
Haeckel was active, and leaves out
some steps he considered important
in favor of others which now appear
more in keeping with the facts.
The speaker emphasized, however,
that the new evolutionary ladder
also is considered liable to revision.
Pre-Fish' Was Lowest
The lowest step on the new an
thropogenetic ladder was a pre-
FISH" stage, represented by the now
extinct line of ostracoderms, which
were mighty in the seas from a
half-billion to a third of billion
years ago.
These had certain structures, es-
pecially in brain and cranial nerves,
fundamentally identical with those
of the younger stages Of the lam
prey or hagfish of today.
From this stage, the descent en-
visioned by Professor Gregory pro-
ceeded through primitive shark
like and fish-like animals, through
amphibians of the Coal Age, and
reptiles that followed them, to
near mammalian" reptiles that
lived in South Africa when dino
saurs roamed the earth.
From such stage, transition to the
reptile-like, egg-laying animals,
such as the duckbill and the
echidna, still living in Australia, is
not too grave leap for the scien-
tiflc imagination.
The more direct ancestry of man
and his simian cousins can be traced
through creatures grading from
opossum- like animals to the tree
shrew type, Professor Gregory holds.
The earliest primates probably we're
something like the modern tarsiers,
but less specialized.
Monkey Branch Develops
From these the old-world monkey
stem developed, which in turn gave
rise to more truly anthropoid forms,
of which the recently discovered
Australopithecus skeleton of South
Africa is a striking example.
Truly human forms of early date
are exemplified in Professor Greg
ory's scheme of descent by the
Javanese Pithecanthropus and the
Picking Man of China. True man.
Homo sapiens, originated during the
Ice Age.
His brain, Professor Gregory said
retains many unmistakable marks
of derivation from an anthropoid
stage, but shows progressive devel-
opment of centers and areas asso-
ciated with speech and verbalized
thinking.
las to the possible future of man
kind" he concluded, to judge from
the history of many other new
groups mot species) and in consid-
Grafton of his cosmopolitan distribu-
ton, mankind should be a good
risk for survival for an indefinite
period"