Evening star., 1939-04-01
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

By Thomas r. Henry.
Mankind. spurred by the stresses and
perplexities of modern life. may be just
at the beginning of an accelerated evolu-
ton of brain and body.
Such is the opinion of one of the few
men in the world most competent to
speak on human development-Dr. Ales
Hrdlicka, curator of physical anthro-
pology of the Smithsonian Institution,
who is observing his 10th birthday ami
versary this month The American As
sociation Of Physical Anthropologists is
holding its annual convention in Phila-
delphia on April and in honor Of DIR.
Hrdlicka and the foremost physical an
thropologists of the world are engaged IN
preparing testimonial volume for him.
At the National Museum DR.. Hrdlicka
has assembled the worlds largest collec-
ton of human skulls, representing nearly
all races, periods and parts Of the earth.
Largely on his 40 years of study Of these
skulls and other bones of the body DR..
Hrdlicka bases his predictions of a better
human race in better world of tomor-
row as man leaves farther and farther
behind the vestiges of his brute ancestry.
The Smithsonian anthropologist, one of
the founders of the science of physical
anthropology, reads mans history in
mans bones where every step of 1t has
been recorded through the ages.
Following are some Of the things he
reads in his great library of 10000 skulls,
both human and infrahuman, where the
stories of past and future are written in
cryptic language.
The great apes, mans closest relatives,
may be considered as more or less
senile race, says DR.. Hrdlicka.
He has studied the bones, especially
the skulls, of hundreds Of gorillas, CHM
panzees and orangutans. There is q
narrow range of variation which prom
ises little for the future of these species.
They are branches from the main trunk
we'll adapted to their environments-too
we'll fer their own best interests, because
they were no longer confronted with the
problems Of life which act as stimuli to
change Now they have lost the capacity
for any great variation.
This is almost certainly true OF the
orangutans and the lowland gorillas,
says DR.. Hrdlicka. But as the chimpan-
zees become better known to science sew
eral apparent subraces are being differ
entiated. This indicates degree of
Variation which may even involve occa-
sional mutations.
Variation. DR.. Hrdlicka explains. still
must be considered the corner stone Of
evolution, whatever may be the more
fundamental forces which underlie it.
Every individual in the whole kingdom
of life, plant and animal, varies some
what from every other individual
Every human being differs from every
other human being. 1t is from these
variations that changes arise
At present, DR.. Hrdlicka finds from his
studies that the human race shows
many and great variations in many Or
gans-an almost certain indication that
it will not be on the same level tomor-
row as today.
1t is a sign, Dr. Hrdicka says of
racial ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to the
period of major changes in size, appear
ance and personality through which the
individual passes usually in the early
teens. The major trends he explains
are in the direction of greater refine
ment rather than increase or decrease in
size. This is especially true of the brain
in which, DR.. Hrdlicka points out, man
has undergone his most extensive evolu-
ton in the past and may be expected to
evolve farthest in the future
1t is often argued, he explains, as to
whether the human race has made any
real intellectual advancement in historic
times. Ancient Egypt, Greece, Mesopo-
tamia and China produced some of the
greatest geniuses of all times.
But DR.. Hrdlicka believes, basing his
convictions on his brain studies. these
geniuses were rare exceptions They
were thousands of years ahead of their
times. They stood much higher above
the great average of their own contem-
poraries than above the great average Of
civilized men today. The American Of
flee clerk of the present, he says, ap-
proaches Plato or Homer much closer
than did the scribe" of ancient Athens
His skull collections of the past con-
tain some of the biggest known individ-
ual skulls, but the trend of the average
in SkuIl measurements seems constantly
to be advancing. This is notable, says
DR.. Hrdlicka, at almost any gathering of
American professional men such as the
National Academy of Sciences, the
American Medical Association or the
Ameri ,an Bar Association. One is i'm
pressed by the large number Of large
heads showing a very definite trend in
the American population toward larger
brains
Head size alone admittedly might not
mean very much, he says There is no
absolute correlation between it and in
tellgence and some eminent men have
moderate sized skulls. Actually some of
the earliest true human beings known to
anthropologists men of the European
new Stone Age, had heads on the average
about as large as those OF today The
largest average for extant brains is that
of the Eskimo
But 1t is almost certain, DR.. Hrdlicka
says that the ancient big-headed men