Evening star., 1947-10-15
Stors, Men and Atoms
Two New: missing Links
Found in South Africa
Skull of Curious Big Male Ape
Contains Humanlike Features
Bv Thomas r. Henry

Two important missing links" between ane
and man are found in perfect lower law
blasted out Of rock near Sterkfontaine, South
Africa, according to reports received at the
National Museum here.
The jaw is from the skull Of large and
apparently, young male Of q curious big ape
which lived about q half million years ago
known as plesianthropus transvaaliensis. The
species has been known hitherto from the par
tial skull Of an old female. It contained several
humanlike features which led to the belief
that it might be In the immediate line of mans
ancestry although 1t still was far from being
human.
There are two significant features to the
new find. First are the canine teeth. In the
great apes the lower canine always passes In
front Of the upper when the jaws are closed
They never come In opposition to each other
This skull shows that the lower canine was
much worn which makes 1t certain that its
position was essentially the same ss In man.
Second Is q little bone thickening on the lower
part Of the jaw which Is interpreted as the
beginning Of chin. The chin Is confined
to man and no sign Of 1t hitherto has been found
in ape fossils.
Like Heidelberg Man.
The jaw itself was strikingly like that of
the 100000 -year-old jaw of Heidelberg man
found in Germany, which is believed to repre-
sent one OF the major steps in human evolution
between the extremely primitive ape men Of
Java and the grotesque Neanderthalers who
directly preceded the present human race in
Europe.
The teeth Of the South African Jaw, how
ever, are larger than those Of the Heidelberg
man and very much larger than those of
In fho hos{S ~
Skull restoration 1t was reported that plesian.
thropus had quite small brain with q ca
paciy OF not more than 400 cubic centimeters.
Inls Is considerably smaller than that Of
the Java man. If q skull were constructed
on the basis OF the new-found Jaw, however,
IL would have capacity Of about TOO cubic
centlmeters, well within the Java man limits
although still little more than a half that of
modern man.
At the recent New York meeting of the
American Chemical Society a lively dispute
arose over the name Of element e7-long one
OF the missing elements In the atomic tabls
which has been manufactured In the Gov.
ernments plutonium piles It was contended
tnat 1t could not have been discovered at the
University Of Illinois, as was claimed about
ten years ago, and 1t was proposed that the
name "illinium" be removed,
Dispute over Vanadium.
Now similar dispute has arisen over a much
more common element, vanadium- lately be-
come OF great importance In the United States
because 1t Is found mixed with small amounts
OF uranium. The world authority on atomic
nomenclature is DR.. F. A. Paneth of the Uni.
versity of Durham, England.
Scientists OF the National University OF
Mexico have appealed to him to remove tia
name "vanadium" on the grounds that the ele-
ment was first identified in 1901 by DR.. Endres
del Rio Of the Mexican Royal School of Mines.
who named 1t "erythronium" The name was
removed when doubts since found unjustified.
were thrown on del Rios discovery.
DR.. Paneth has replied that the Mexican him.,
self was convinced he had made . mistake
although actually he had not, and voluntarily
Withdrew the name