THE DAWN MAN.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2001, 7 March 1914, Page 4

THE DAWN MAN.

The diswrery of the filtctowji skull, ty wide!) reference was made in our cable columns last weftiv, appeal's to have thrown ft considerable amoi.i.u't of light upon the cui'ly history of the hmnari raec. The descent of man is a mo'st fascinating study, though the subject is not quite so exciting in these c|.av-s as it was fifty or sisfiy years ago, when Darwin 'first propounded his theories ds to the ancestry of the human race. Tho suggestion, that- our rjein'p'U) forefathers were closely related to the apes was greeted with an ■e.t'traorcli.naiy outlnvvst of indignntioft and riclicule, It was .even regarded as an attack on religion, and feljo fact that BauWis got the first hint of 'hisdoctrine of natural selection from an English clergyman na.mcd MalTjius did not lessen the- enormity of the offence, SuxlEV argued that a, man has no i'Casori to be ashamed of having an apo for his_ .ancestor, bait 3-t t.hfsfc time public opijiijßJi was agaijist him. and Bhuueu made a great liit whcß, declaring., with amazing irrelsvartcc,. that the prohlom.of Dai'* wip,is.jn con'id bo sivniined Up" in the question ■' *'is man an apo or an angel? 5 ' lie proudly repliedi "I ain on the side of the angels." A great' change has taken place' since then, and the story of primitive tnan call now be discussed without raising theaHghtjjsfc storm. It is. true- that the Ptltdqw.ri akiill has been the cause &f ftmch controyeitsy among seieiv tific mcn,» and whon PitOFEsso.« Elliot Ssjifjt tells iws thnit its shape and size indicate tho kind of brain possessed by our earliest ancestprs, ft should 1m borne in mind that siieij a statement is only an cxpcrt' ? s. de-dttction-s from more or less uft'Ce.! - *- iaiii data, The fossil remains as jiut together, by Dij. Smith Wyopv/wb givs a s-k.ull With a brain Cft-pa.O.ity of 1970 t'ubic' centimetres, which would indicate that its owner steod midway between .the liighos't ape and the highest man; 'but the reconstruction of PiiOFEa60n_ AwriJi'ii- Kehm slifiWoil a brain papaeity -of 15Q0 cuoie cc«ti' metres w'liifi.h is a little .above the average of' jnodorn imm. These contradictory conelnsions (rive some- idea of tjjp uncertainty of the, mutter. Later on « tooth, supposed to belong k» the skull, was dug Hip-, and it is 'dflscrflieoj as ape-lifco jij appearfln&c, which gives, support to Dii, WoOdwarp's reconstruction, Pbo.PesS.or Bw : iot S'Mi?H contends that the brain was human and tl'» jaw simian, atid that, the indications'.go to prove that the growtli in'intellect in our ancestors' preceded refinement of features. He therefore holds that th<> Piltdown slinll gives us a niost valuable revelation of "the d.awn .jjiau," If the original owner pi ■the skull realty was one of the. dawn niw, and Peofessqr l(t;.tT : ii'.B. mnk onjiea! aiigument h sound, ; it would ■point to the inte-festing fact that ■man possessed his full brain eape:ity at the conflnencenicnt of his known gaolpgkaj history, 'for' the gravel in which the sku'l-1 and' tooth. mm found dated itask to the tima when .the earliest nian. Was ''.probably ■making hjs. appearanee., D.r. fenfk WooitWAUD is Ge-nfidWt that the'Pilt(tewn »n.n is a real musing iink,and "might wU ■ have iscen tlve diftjOt aacestor. of modern man, conneeting him wtK 1 - IK* tifldisfeovei-ed Tertiary ap«s wEosa' rottijdfid j;i|ulk niust have : res-'.mbkd those of the iinnlatorc young of existing apes;?' If this tlieory is_ cermet the .Piltdown' d'is- .- cpvery will take its place alongside,! juK'h finds _as that of the apc-iuan of Java,' which consisted of several teeth, a. .thigh-bone, and the. top of ■the $Mj; tat in jjiost eases there is a coiisidoi'abie amount of riincer' tftinty as to the propet I'econstruc.tfon of tile, fossils, iJiffieult as' pis to reconstruct thn ■skeletons..of these and other so-called ape-nicn, it is in soffle respects- still, more difficult to form an accurate idea tff the nion themselves—their <k&y life a-nd thpnglitj tlieir Wofal ideals And'intePfifefcual *a]iaeity, fjisy detibtfcss arc in ' head form trp to a certain point," writes Ifn. Masbitt, "though almost all tfei'r snparate features occur here ttrid there aiflorigst moiLom Australiaji &iti\T.s, And yet they w.ftfe mcit epougli, had brains .enough, to believe in a lifo alter death, Ther/is soinsthins; to'drink about in that" These fossils tell us a.freat chA hut vmt half as much as still remaps untold. . '