Evening star., 1943-09-06
AIes HrdIicka Dies;
Earned World Fame
AS AnthropoIoqist

Lulu~u VVllu I ultE
As AnthropoIoqist
DR. Ales Hrdlicka, "a. who came
to the United States as a Czecho-
slovakisn immigrant boy snd won
international renown as an anthro-
pologist, died yesterday at his home,
2900 Tilden street NV. after brief
illness. Death was attributed to a
heart attack
Dr. Hrdlicka gave up medical
career to become the worlds lead
ing exponent of the theory that
human life Gid not exist on the
American continent in prehistoric
days. Since 1908 he had been as
sociated with the Smithsonian In
stitution, serving since 1910 as cura-
tor of the Division of Physical An
thropology
In support of his contention that
the first inhabitants of this country
/ came from Asia by way of the
| Bering Strata position that pro-
voked scientific controversy-he
made many trips to Alaska and
Russia. He reported that he found
bones and other material in Russia
and Siberia which showed a close
relation between the Asiatics and
. the American Indian and Eskimo.
Headed Many Expeditions,
The famous scientists investiga-
tion carried him on one expedition
after another from 1898 to 1899. 1t
Was IN the latter year, while on a
trip to Europe, that he became i'll
with heart disease.
! Based on his long observa tionS of
man, DR.. Hrdlicka predicted in 1887
that another new general war" was
inevitable. He likened the world at
! that time to steam boiler that
| periodically becames overcharged
and eXplodes. He foresaw no end to
warning. at least for generations. but
gave these as possible safeguards
against conflict:
In the first place. thorough and
continued study of wars: second. a
justice and good will to all; third,
a generalized enlightened apprecia-
ton and love of ones country;
! fourth. q thorough direct acouaint-
snce with an understanding of other
countries and peoples as may be pos
sible, and last thorough insurance
of safety through preparation"
Son of Cabinet Maker.
Born the son of a cabinet maker
in Humpolec, Bohemia. part of
Czechoslovakia before the war. DR..
Hrdlicka was mainly self f-educated
in this country. In 1882, at the age of
13. he came to the United States
with his father. For two years he
studied Latin and Greek under
Jesuit teachers.
Stoned and jeered by street
urchine in New York on his arrival
in this country because of his foreign
appearance, and unable to speak
English, Dr. Hrdlicka spent his first
years helping his father in his shop
and studying in evening classes.
Later he studied medicine under a
famous New York doctor and at the
Eclectic Medical College, where he
was graduated in 1892. Hospital
work, general practice and further
study engaged him for the next two
years and in 1894 he received Sec
ond MD. degree at the Homeo-
pathic Medical College of New York.
In the same year he passed the ex-
animation of the Allopathic State
Board of Baltimore, and became an
intern in the Middletown IN. "
State Hospital for the Insane where
he remained two years.
Back to Europe for Study.
In 1896 Dr. Hrdlicka was ap-
pointed associate in anthropology
to the New York State Pathological
Institute, but before accepting the
post went to Europe and studied
legal medicine, anthropology. and
psychiatry for several months at the
school of anthropology of the Uni
versitv of Paris. For three years
following he conducted extensive
investiga tions of the mentally sb-
normal in New York with the as
sistance of other physicians in the
State service whom he interested
and instructed in the work.
In 1899 he accepted the direction
of the physical anthropolgy section
of the Hyde expeditions conducted
| under auspices of the American Mu-
scum of Natural History, and until
1903 made for that museum many
medical, physiological and anthro-
biological studies among the Indian
tribes in the southwest and in the
valley Of Mexico.
Named Curator in 1910.
DR.. Hrdlicka was then called to
organize and direct a division of
physical anthropology for the Ma
tional Museum and served from that
time until 1908 as assistant curator.
Since 1910 he had been curator.
During his scientific expeditions,
he found in the Aleutians in 1886
what fellow workers at the Smith
sonian Institution described as the
skull which housed the largest hu-
man brain of record in the Western
Hemisphere. The skull. believed to
have belonged to an Aleut who lived
hundreds of years ago. had brain
capacity of zoos cubic centimeters
| The average man has about 1,450
cubic centimeters.
Bringing down to the layman
some of his findings, the Smith
sonian once reported that the an
thropologist had found WHY it Is
that old friends sometimes find it
hard to recognize each other after
years of separation. DR.. Hrdlicka
explained that it was quite natural,
that as q person grows older. his
nose gets longer and broader, his