Evening star., 1942-12-17
Of Sturs, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

Discovery in Java of third skull
of pithecanthropus erectus, the Million
year-old first human being" Of which
there are any fossil records has been
announced by DR.. G. H. r. Won Koenigs-
wald, associate Of the Carnegie Insti-
| tuition of Washington.
1t is an incomplete skull of male in
which the upper palate has been pre-
served, DR.. Won Koenigswald says. Pre-
viously two skulls, believed to be those
| of females, have been found in the Java
| deposits.
Pithecanthropus was an apelike crea-
ture with brain capacity OF from 800
| to 1000 cubic centimeters, compared
with from 1850 to $500 cubic cent?
meters for modern man. The gorilla
has a brain capacity of about $50 cubic
| centimeters.
In report just issued by the Carnegie
Institution, DR.. Won Koenigswald, on
| the basis of the accumulating pithecan-
| thropus fossils, disposes of the theory
| that the long sought missing link be-
| tween man and an ape ancestor is rep
resented by fossil remains of three man.
like animals discovered in South Africa
over the past is years. These must
have been more human in their appear
ance than any of the extant great apes,
but not so much so as pithecanthropus,
he points out, and unquestionably be-
long to the man genus, but were not in
the direct ancestral line of modern man.
The grotesque animals represented by the
Java fossils may well have BEEN
Sometime in the early ice ages, as
DR.. Won Koenigswald now reconstructs
the story of the human race, a genus
of quite similar animals was derived
from an apelike ancestor. All possessed
various physical characteristics which
now are found in man, but not in the
more distantly related great apes. One
species happened to possess a greater
brain capacity, or capacity for brain
development, than the others. This
perhaps was just sufficient for it to
make primitive tools and discover the
use of fire. These accomplishments, in
turn, led to decline in the size of the
teeth and jaw muscles with their attach
increase in size. Pithecanthropus was
in this line of descent, as was also tool
using manlike creature whose remains
have been found in China.
The African animals, says DR.. Won
Koenigswald, fell just short of this.
They represent what human beings
might have been, rather than what they
l.
branch parallel to the human line, but
real side branch. perhaps connected
by common pre-Ice Age ancestor, which
demonstrates what man would be like
without the divine inspiration, civili-
zation"
There is reason to believe, he says,
that pithecanthropus actually used some
crude sort of tools, while the African
animals never used anything of the
sorN But still they were closer to man
than gorillas or chimpanzees, who are
only third or fourth cousins.
In the last war it was trench feet"
Many a member of the AEF marched
all day over frozen or muddy ground
WTen every Step was agony.
The same phenomenon has appeared
In this war in the form of "lifeboat
feet" 1t has been observed especially
in England among men who have spent
from few hours to few days in open
boats with their feet immersed in cold
water. The condition may persist for
as much as two years and Is highly dis
abling, according to a report made to
the British Medical Association by DR..
William Blackwood of the Scottish
Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh, where
many victims have been treated with,
up to date, Indifferent results
The malady, DR.. Blackwood says,
usually appears in three stages. The
first stage. which develops in from a
few hours to few days after the rescue
of shipwrecked men, consists of alb
normally cold feet and the so-called
sock anesthesia." That is, the feet are
without feeling, but this numbness does
not conform to any recognized nerve
courses. Arteries in the feet may be
pulseless. This is bad sign, as 1t in
dicates that gangrene may be imminent.
Then comes the second stage, which
may last from six to ten weeks The
feet become red and hot. Pins and
needles" sensations are felt A little
later come shooting pains which are
worse at night. Sometimes 1t is neces-
sary to give morphine. The feet never
sweat. Gangrene is especially to be
feared at this time.
The third stage, which may last for
months or years, is characterized by ex-
cessive sweating of the feet and ex-
treme sensitivity to cold A pair of
socks will become soaking wet with
sweat in a few minutes. Feet ache
when there is slight decline In the
temperature.
Apparently, Dr. Blackwood says. there
Is damage to peripheral blood vessels,
muscles, nerves and skin. Some cases
already have persisted for "a months.
At the Scottish hospital it has been
possible to produce the same disease
experimentally by holding the feet of
rabbits in ice-cold water. The chief
damage appears to be to the blood
vessels
The condition is not the same. DR..
Blackwood says, to that produced by
frostbite and probably cannot be dis
tinguished from the trench feet of the
last war.
No adequate treatment has yet been
devised, The army or navy doctor must
}ne