Evening star., 1948-09-08
Stars, Men and Atoms AG
Skulls of Asia Pre-Men
Disappear During Wo'
Lost in Shipment to Shanghai to Sa,
Them From Japs
By Thomas X. Henry

Them From Japs
By Thomas r. Henry
The second oldest human remains-skulls Of
premen who lived in Asia close to . million
years ago-have disappeared.
Anthropologists have about given UP hope
that the precious bones Of the heavy-jawed,
beetle Homo Sinanthropus ever will be
recovered. They probably are at the bottom of
the China Sea. There Is q faint possibility
that they may be stored away in an unlabeled
packing box at some North China port or even
retained as souvenirs by some japanese soldier
ignorant Of their meaning Or afraid TO reveal
that he has them.
1t has been possible to trace them only 10
the time they were shipped from Peking 70
Shanghai to save them from Japanese In.
vaders In 1912. Even the route Is unknown.
From the time they left the cenozoic labora.
tory Of the Chinese Geological Survey they
dropped out Of sight. 1t has been ascertained
only that they have not found their way into
any Japanese government or university COLI
lection and are not in the hands of ans
japanese citizens known to be interested In
such things. '1'
Found Is Years Ago.
These skulls were discovered Is years ago In
q cave AZ miles from Peking and 1t soon became
evident that they were among the most notapls
relics of mans antiquity in existence. They
apparently represented a family group of APE
men'-creatures very definitely above the level
OF gorilla or chimpanzee and yet far below
modern man. Generally recognized as the
most primitive creature in the direct human
line was the so-called "pithecanthropus" Of
Java whose remains were found in geological
TO uhtP if,Ii fnl
million years. Most abundant remains of pre-.
men are those of Neanderthalers. best known as
the cave dwellers Of Europe during the Ice
age about fifty thousand years ago. Modern
man directly succeeded these grotesque, human.
like beings who were extinct long before the
dawn of history. The Neanderthaler type has
been found over most of the old world.
Between Neanderthaler and Pithecanthropus
was an enormous gap in evolutionary history.
greater even than that between the cave men
and present-day human beings. The China
men, discovered by the late DR.. Franz Weiden-
reich. fitted nicely into this hiatus. They ap-
parently were little closer to the Java man
than to the Neanderthalers, but they combined
features of both and may have been a missing
link between the two.
Search Ordered.
When the loss of the specimens became
known the Japanese government was ordered
to make search for them. There can be
little doubt, say anthropologists here, that this
was carried out honestly and thoroughly, but
it failed to give the slightest clue to their
whereabouts. There is a high probability, 1t Is
believed. that the boat on which they were
shipped was sunk.
Also found in Java were relics of the M.
called Solo man. He was generally of the
Neanderthal type, far advanced from Pithecan-
thropus. Jap invaders took one Of the Solo
skulls from the Batavia museum and II WA
presented to the emperor as q souvenir It
was promptly returned when discovered at the
end Of the war.
The snlperscope and snooperscope used by
both Americans and Germans late In the war
to see IN the dark" now have been adapted
to seeing through slices Of opaque minerals
and studying the structure Of half billion year
old fossils embedded in rock.
Thus tho war-developed principle OF seeing
by black light has been turned into an instru-
ment for scientific research according 10 /
report to the American Association for the
Advancement Of Science by Dr.. Reno
Bailly OF Washington University, st. Louis.
The war instruments depended on elements
extremely sensitive to the infrared, or heat,
radiation which came from the bodies Of ap-
preaching enemies. These were converted by
electronic devices into visible light and a clear
picture of the lurking enemy was thrown on
a screen.
Now, DR. Bailly says, there are MANY ele-
ments, sections OF which are not more than a few
hundredths OF an inch thick, which are COM
pletely opaque to visible light while the infra-
red apparently goes through them as If they
were glass. Essentially the same principle can
be used to throw on a fluorescent screen q
green image of their internal structures The
manipulation of this new infrared microscope
Is exactly the same as for the ordinary polar
izing microscope used in scientific laboratories.
Rock sections are filled with shells of almost
invisibly minute sea plants and animals, such
as the forminifera which are q valuabls clue
IN the location Of oil deposits Determination
OF types in the past has been extremely la
borious, depending on an involved and lengthy
Photographic technique. With the infrared
microscope the details Of their structures can
be seen Immediately. The instrument should
be very useful, DR.. Bailly says, in medicine.
biology and chemistry. -
Questions and Answers 49,, ;,