Evening star., 1953-12-28
Science Reassessinq
Basic Theories Of
Man's S Ancestry
By Thomos R. Henry
Science Editor Of The Star

By Thomds R. Henry
Science Ediser Of The Ssor
BOSTON, Dec. 2S.-Science is
taking q new look at mans an
cestry.
A simple line Of evolution in q
little over a million years from
some tree-dwelling creature
somewhat similar to the present
great apes, adequate enough dur
ing the bitter evolution contro-
versies of Is years ago, when
only q few fossils Of pre-humans
were known, no longer is quite
acceptable.
This was stressed at q SYM
postum on primate development
from the primitive monkey like
creatures Of North American for
ests 65 million years ago to mod
ern man, which was held by
the American Association for
the Advancement Of Science here
yesterday. During the past
decade there has been a pie
thora of Freeman fossils found,
especially in South and East
Africa. which vastly compl;cates
the problem, speakers stressed,
These seem to throw out the
idea that mans ancestors were
tree-dwellerS, according to DR..
William L. Strauss, jr., of Johns
Hopkins University. Instead it
seems more likely that the tree
dwelling life Of the present great
apes is a relatively recent de-
velopment, achieved after man
or his immediate ancestor had
evolved.
Few Fossils Available.
Quite recently. DR.. Strauss ex-
planned, remains of a fossil glib
bon have been found in Central
Europe which quite clearly des-
ignate an animal who walked
on the ground on all fours. about.
the fartheSt possible variation
from the exclusively arboreal
gibbon of today.
A major cause Of confusion in
the past, DR.. Strauss said, is that
SO few primate fossils have been
available. Ordinarily monkeys
and apes do not dies under cir
cumStanceS conducive to be-
coming fossils. The South
African finds of the so-called
"Australopithicae." erect walk
ing apes who could have been
ancestral to both the great apes
and man, have made necessary
a broad revision of ideas formed
on a succession of man-like
skulls. each more humanlike and
geologically little earlier.
The scientists did not chal-
lenge the basic conception that
man has some sort of monkey
like ancestry. Every find has
only served to make this more
certain and it is only the Sc
quence Of descent that is thrown
into doubt.
ChinpanZee Raised in Home.
Both the great apes and man
seem to have evolved along
somewhate parallel lines, it was
stressed, and this has raised the
question Of where the basic diff
ference has arisen between them.
Actually it may not be so great
as it seems on the surface, ac-
cording to several who took part
in the symposium. Such was
the conclusion of DR.. K. j. Hayes
of the Yerkes Laboratory of
Primate Biology. who has raised
q baby chimpanzee in his home
as nearly as possible as a human
child would be raised.
She has shown all but one of
the major characteristics Of a
human child, he said. She ap-
pears to have an almost equal
capacity to learn use of tools but.
although she appears to have
the necessary speech apparatus,
she has shown very little capacity
to form words. Her total vocab-
ulary still consists of about five
words. although she has shown
some capacity for symbolic
thinking which is supposed to be
the highest human character un-
represented in the animals. Still
her vocabulary consists of only
f1ve or six words like sounds and
when very young she showed no
tendency to the babbling of
human infants, which presum-
ably is the beginning of language.
Probably the answer, and with |
1t the course Of the evolution of
man, lies in the fact that CHM
panzees in their natural tropical
environment have no need of |
language or culture. Somewhat |
more than million years ago
some ape-like creature with SIM
liar capacities to this baby were
forced into a cold, hostile en-
vironment where it was forced |
to bring its latent abilities into
play. Then. by a process of Sc
lection by survival Of the fittest,
those with the greatest brain ca
pacity became the majority of |
the race.
This culture, it was said, may
have started while man still |
walked on four feet.
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