Chapter XIII: Preface (13)

When we explore this Palæolithic, Pleistocene, or Quaternary epoch—the last of the geologists’ long series of epochs and deposits—we find that it represents by no means a trivial episode in the world’s long change. It is true that compared to geologic periods which follow on below it—namely, the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene of the Tertiary, the Chalk and the vast ages below that white sea-sediment, indicated by the sixty thousand feet of stratified rock (Jurassic, Triassic, Carboniferous, Devonian, Silurian, Cambrian!), the Pleistocene exhibits but a small thickness of deposit (amounting to but two or three hundred feet of sand and gravel) as its contribution to the earth’s crust.

Yet, on account of the nearness to our own times of the events which took place in the Pleistocene period, geologists and prehistorians have studied its details with minute care, and have accumulated an immense array of facts and specimens by digging and carefully collecting in Western and Central Europe. They have divided up this Pleistocene period and the deposits in river-valley and cave which have occurred within its limits into three great consecutive ages. These are distinguished from one another by the distinctive wild animals which flourished in each, by the climate which is indicated, and by the progressive development of the art and workmanship of the Palæolithic men discovered in successive layers of deposit. Let me here refer the reader to the tabular statement on page 384 _bis_.

These ages of the Pleistocene are:—No. 1. The Upper or Post-Glacial Pleistocene, or =Epoch of the Reindeer=. The climate was cold and dry, like that of the Russian steppes. The contents of the celebrated cave of La Madeleine, in the Dordogne, and the upper layers of deposit in a whole series of caves (including Kent’s Cavern and the Creswell Cave in England) belong to this age. This was the period in which the caves were inhabited by the artistic race “who came no one knows whence, and went no one knows whither,” accompanied by the reindeer. Before them there was no carving in the caves, or only very rough work, and we are justified in concluding that the men who inhabited the caves before this period belonged to a totally distinct and inferior race. The “Reindeer Men” must have developed their art by gradual steps before they arrived in the caves of Western Europe—where we do not know. At the end of this period the climate became much milder, and the red deer of our own day took the place of the reindeer, during a long transition in which the “Reindeer Men” and their art disappeared, and the pastoral, land-tilling, stone-building, pottery-making communities of the Neolithic Age came into existence, showing no trace of the art of their predecessors. The mammoth and rhinoceros, bison, and aurochs, and, in fact, all the commoner animals of an earlier period were present nearly all through the Reindeer period (they disappear in the late “transition period” of the red deer, called “Azilian”), and were known to the “Reindeer Men,” but great herds of reindeer and of horses occupied the grassy lands in this age, which were not abundant previously. These herds probably were to some extent protected by the men, whilst the lion, bear, hyæna, mammoths, and rhinoceroses were diminishing in number, and were kept at a distance.

The next lower division of the Pleistocene is No. 2, the Middle Pleistocene or Last Glacial Age, or better, the =Epoch of the Mammoth=. The climate was cold and humid. For the third and last time great glaciers existed over the whole of Northern Europe, and only bits of the south of England and the central and southern parts of France were free from the ice-covering, and carried a rich vegetation. Deeper deposits in caves are of this age, and also much of the river gravels of the lower terraces of English and French rivers. By the French it is often called the Moustierian period, because it is well seen in the rich deposits of the caves and plateau of Le Moustier, on the river Vezère (an affluent of the Dordogne), which contain bones of mammoth and rhinoceros, and flint implements of a special form (Fig. 72), but no carvings or artistic work. Hyænas made some of the caverns into their dens, and the cave-lion and the cave-bear were there too. The men of this period actually contested with these carnivors for the possession of the caves, and made great fires to keep out wild beasts, as well as to grill the meat on which they fed. They were of an inferior race to the Reindeer Men, and had not such command of the situation as their successors. We find their remains, their flint weapons, and in rare cases their own bones as well as the bones of the mammoth and hairy rhinoceros (on which they fed), and the bones of their competitors, the hyænas, bears, and lions, in the deeper deposits of some caves, underlying, and separated often by calcareous deposit from, the layers which belong to the subsequent and prosperous days of the Reindeer Men. Most striking is the fact that in the layers of deposit of this older age, there are no works of art nor any implements carved from bone or ivory. These earlier men, devoid of art and living at a low level of savagery, were the Neander Men. It is in this layer and under these conditions that the few broken skulls, agreeing in shape and character with that of the Neander Valley, have been found.

Lastly we come to division No. 3, the Lower Pleistocene, or =Epoch of the Hippopotamus=. The later climate of this age was mild. It came between two glacial periods, owing to the retreat of the glaciers, which had earlier increased in extent so as to produce the second Great Glacial period. The hippopotamus swam in the Thames and Severn in those days, and left its bones and teeth in the older gravels of those and other European rivers, where we now find them. The big almond-shaped and leaf-shaped flint implements of the English (Fig. 73) and French gravels (Fig. 74) belong to this period. We have no knowledge whatever of the men who made them.[8] The mammoth was not there, but another species of elephant (_E. antiquus_) and a peculiar rhinoceros (_R. merckii_). The deepest and oldest deposits in some caves belong to this age, as well as the high-lying gravels of St. Acheuil, of many English river-valleys, and of Chelles on the Seine. This period is not represented by much deposit in caves, though some caves contain very deep-lying layers enclosing bones or teeth of the animals characterising this period.

Older than the Age of the Hippopotamus are deposits which are reckoned by geologists as “Pliocene”—no longer Pleistocene—and are called “Tertiary,” not “Quaternary.” The forest bed of Norfolk (regarded by Professor Marcelin Boule as of transitional character, as shown in the tabular view on p. 384 _bis_), the Norwich crag, the Suffolk red and coralline crag, and very extensive sandy deposits all over Europe belong to the Pliocene. The earliest or first great extension of glaciers occurred late in this period. The animals are very different from those of the Pleistocene; the great mastodon and the tapir are there, and the sabre-toothed tiger. Implements manufactured by man are found in the oldest Pleistocene, and there is no reason to doubt that we shall find his workmanship in the Pliocene, too, though it is not admitted that this has yet been done. It is a question still eagerly studied and debated as to whether the roughly chipped flints found in gravels on high downs in the south of England, and called “eoliths,” are (as I think many of them are) the work of man, and whether the high-lying gravels in which they are found are to be regarded as of the oldest Pleistocene Age or as late Pliocene. It is an exciting and deeply interesting field of practical exploration and reasoned inference.

It will have been gathered from what I have said that, in seeking for knowledge of the sequence of events in the period of Palæolithic Man, everything depends upon extreme care in removing the deposits from a cave inch by inch, and keeping all objects found distinct from one another and assigned to their proper layer. The same system is now applied with great success to the exploration of ancient cities in Egypt and Central Asia.

As to the actual bones and skulls of men discovered in these Pleistocene deposits, they show us that the Reindeer Men were a fine, full-brained people, as we should expect, with as large a brain cavity on the average as that of modern Europeans. The skulls of this race, which do not differ in character from those of highly developed modern races, were first found at Cromagnon, and hence we may call them “the Cromagnards” (Fig. 75). The Neander Men are the men of the middle period—the last glacial period—who were displaced by the splendid and accomplished Cromagnards. The Neander Men, of which the new French specimen (Fig. 65) from the cave of the Chapelle-aux-Saints is one, were a very inferior race, and so different from any living race of men as to justify the recognition of them as a distinct species of man, the _Homo Neanderthalensis_. Only a few other imperfect skulls and skeletons of them are known (Figs. 76 and 77), and show them to have been short people, with very low, flat heads and retreating foreheads. It is in accordance with what one would expect, that they should make no works of art, and should be displaced, as climatic conditions changed for the better, by the arrival of the fine, full-brained Cromagnards or Reindeer Men. But where did they, these delightful artists and happy hunters of the Reindeer Epoch, come from? We cannot say. And what became of them? We do not know. They did not give rise to the Neolithic race, but were replaced, turned out by that race. To them, indeed, are appropriate the words of the Roman poet—_Prolem sine matre creatam, mater sine prole defuncta_.

_N.B._—This drawing, and one or two of the other figures of skulls, are reversed, giving right side for left, to facilitate the comparison of one with the other. All are one-third (linear) of the natural size.]

Table showing the Geologic History of Man in Western Europe

(AFTER MARCELIN BOULE, WITH SOME ADDITIONS)

+—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-—--+—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+ | Geological | Geological | Characteristic | Human Industry. | | Divisions. | Conditions | Animals. | | | | and Formations. | | | +—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-—--+—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+ | | | | | | QUATERNARY. | | | PERIOD OF METALS. | | { | Recent alluvium, | The present species. | | | { PRESENT. | peat-bogs. | Domesticated animals.| Age of iron. | | { | Climate closely | | Age of bronze. | | { | similar to | | Age of copper. | | { | the present. | | | | { | | | NEOLITHIC PERIOD, | | { | | | or period of | | { | | | polished stone. | | { | | | | | { | Transitional Deposits—Red Deer, Beaver.| Transitional | | { | | | Industry | | { | | | (AZILIAN). | | { PLEISTOCENE | | | | | { { {| Upper layers of |EPOCH OF THE REINDEER.| PALÆOLITHIC PERIOD, | | { { {| cavern deposits.| | OR, PERIOD OF | | { { {| Upper part of | | CHIPPED FLINTS. | | { { {| the loess of the| | { | | { { {| Rhine. Climate | Reindeer, Bison, | { | | { { {| cold and dry; | Horse, Saiga | { MAGDALENIAN. | | { { {| conditions like | antelope, wolf, | { | | { { UPPER. {| those of the | fauna of the | { Sculptures, | | { { {| “steppes” of | steppes. | { engravings, and | | { { {| Tartary and | | { paintings: small | | { { {| Russia. | | { and very varied | | { { {| | | { chipped flints. | | { { {| | | { CROMAGNARD RACE. | | { { {| | | { | | { {—-—-—--+—-—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-—--+-{—-—-—-—-—-—--+ | { { {| Deposits formed | EPOCH OF THE MAMMOTH.| { MOUSTIERIAN. | | { { {| by the filling | | { | | { { {| of caverns. | Mammoth, Rhinoceros | { Commencement of | | { { {| Loess of the | with partitioned | { work in bone: | | { { {| Rhine. Gravels | nostrils (R. | { flints usually | | { { {| of low-levels | tichorhinus), bear, | { worked only on | | { { MIDDLE. {| and of the | hyena, and lion of | { one face. | | { { {|inferior terraces.| the caverns, wolf, | { NEANDER RACE= | | { { {| | etc. Musk ox. | { _Homo_ | | { { {|=Moraines of the= | | {_Neanderthalensis_.| | { { {| =third great= | | { | | { { {| =glacial period.=| | { | | { { {| Climate cold and | | { | | { { {| humid. | | { | | { {—-—-—--+—-—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-—--+ {—-—-—-—-—-—--+ | { { | | | { | | { { {| Gravels of the | EPOCH OF THE | { CHELLEAN. | | { { {| middle terraces.| HIPPOPOTAMUS. | { | | { { {| Calcareous tufa.| | { First indisputable| | { { {| Climate warm. | Elephas antiquus, | { traces of man in | | { { LOWER. {| | Rhinoceros merckii, | { Europe: the large| | { { {|=Moraines of the= | Hippopotamus major, | { flint weapons are| | { { {| =second great= | Sabre-toothed Tiger,| { chipped on both | | { { {| =glacial period.=| monkeys, etc. | { faces. | | { { {| Climate cold and | | { (Heidelberg human | | { { {| humid. | | { jaw probably of | | | | | | { Neander race.) | | | Transitional Deposits of the Norfolk FOREST BEDS, | | +-+ of St. Prest and of Solilhac. Climate temperate. +—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+ | | | | | |TERTIARY. | | | | | { {| Plateau (high | EPOCH OF THE ELEPHAS | | | { UPPER {| level) gravels. | MERIDIONALIS. | Eoliths of | | { PLIOCENE. {| | | Prestwich. | | { {|=Moraines of the= | Rhinoceros etruscus, | | | { {| =first great= | Equus Stenonis, | | | { {| =extension of= | Sabre-toothed Tiger,| | | { {| =glaciers.= | etc. | | | { {| | | | +—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-+—-—-—-—-—-—-—--+—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+

_N.B._—The horse, the bison (_Bison Europæus_), the great ox or
aurochs (_Bos primigenius_), the ibex, the chamois, the great Irish
deer (_Megaceros_), the large carnivors and others, appear
throughout the middle and upper Pleistocene, but are more abundant
at one period than at another, and in one locality than another.
Thus the bison abounded in the north of Spain in late Magdalenian
times, whilst the reindeer was rare or absent, and its place taken
by the red deer, which later replaced the reindeer in France. The
horse has been found in tens of thousands at Solutré, near Mâcon
(Middle Pliocene), whilst the great Irish deer abounded at a very
late period in Ireland (Azilian?), and is rare at any time
elsewhere. I must clearly state that, whilst this table is
practically that published by my friend Professor Marcelin Boule, he
is not responsible for the recognition of the Eoliths of Prestwich,
nor for the terms “Cromagnard” and “Neander.”

FOOTNOTES

[7] So named after one Neumann, a religious enthusiast, who inhabited the cave.

[8] See, however, farther on as to the lower jaw found at Heidelberg.

XLII

THE CAVE-MEN’S SKULLS

A certain number of human skulls and a few complete skeletons have been found in the cave-deposits, and even in open ground (as at Predmost, in Moravia) associated with the bones of extinct animals, or with carvings and ornaments like those which occur abundantly in the caverns. The ancient cave-men of the Cromagnard type—often called “the Reindeer Men”—buried their dead sometimes in the caves, but more usually in the open. Sometimes the skeletons are found in a crouching position, as though tied up when buried; more rarely (as in some examples found in the caves at Mentone) they are stretched out and decorated with a necklace or wreath made of shells, or of the teeth or small bones of animals. In many cases the flesh was removed from the corpse, and red ochre was smeared on the bones (as by some recent savages). The “Reindeer” people used red ochre and charcoal to colour the engravings of animals (Fig. 71) which they made on the walls of their caves, and probably for painting or tattooing their own faces. The existence of these wall paintings, wonderful representations of bison, great ox, deer, and other animals, proves that these men had artificial light (lamps or torches) to send fitful gleams on to the paintings, and it is probable that the “wall pictures” had to do with some kind of witchcraft. Stone lamps have actually been discovered in the caves. Their ceremonial treatment of the dead shows that already the lines were laid for that worship of the “spirits of the departed,” which became general, and is especially familiar to us in the comparatively modern civilisation of Rome and the Etruscans. There is also evidence that they made simple musical instruments.

In the cave-deposits of the Post-Glacial or Reindeer Age, the human skulls and skeletons which have been found (not indicating more than thirty or forty individuals altogether from widely separate localities) show a very well-developed race, with large brain-case (Fig. 75), quite equal to that of modern Europeans. Some of these men were very tall, one of the skeletons from the Mentone caves being that of a man 6 ft. 3½ in. in height. The cavity of the skull (which corresponds very closely in size with that of the brain which it contained) would hold about 1550 units of water (the unit referred to is a cubic centimetre, 1550 of which are equal to a little less than two and a half English pints). It is not surprising that these Reindeer Men had fine brains, for their carvings and pictures show them to have been real artists, not mere savage scrawlers. This race is called the “Cromagnards,” after the first skulls discovered at Cromagnon, in Central France. They had big, strong lower jaws, with prominent chins, like many fine modern races (_e.g._ the New Zealanders), and fine, narrow noses. The face and upper jaws were somewhat prominent, though not nearly so much so as in modern negroes. The skull-bones were thick and strong. The brain-case or cranial part of the skull was oblong rather than round.

The skulls of the older race—that of the Last Glacial or Moustierian Age—the Neander Men, were long skulls, too, but had a peculiarly flattened shape and a retreating forehead. The bony ridges over the eyes, corresponding to the eyebrows, were enormous, and projected forwards like the vizor of a cap (Figs. 65, 76, and 77). There are but few specimens to guide our conclusions, but they show that though of short stature (some not more than 5 ft. 4 in.), these people were very muscular. The top of a skull from the cave in the Neander Valley, known as the Neanderthal skull, two imperfect skulls from the cave of Spy, in Belgium, an imperfect skull from Brunn, in Moravia, and other fragments from Krapina, in Croatia, and, lastly, one from a cave in Gibraltar, are the best known. Others, including fragments of several skeletons less fully described, which have been found at Predmost, in Moravia, probably belong to this race. But the newly obtained skull and bones from the centre of France (Chapelle-aux-Saints) are the most important of all yet discovered. They all date from the middle Pleistocene period, the age of the last great glaciers, earlier than the age of the Reindeer. The Gibraltar skull (Fig. 77) we have all known for a long time; it has been in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons for forty years, and two years ago was very carefully examined and figured by Professor Sollas, of Oxford. It is a specially valuable specimen, because it shows the bones of the face as well as the brain-case. From other specimens we know the lower jaw. The lower jaw was deep and powerful, but, like that of an ape, had a receding chin, or rather, we should say, had no “chin-prominence” at all (compare Figs. 79, 80, 81, and 82). The new French specimen (Fig. 65) is strongly prognathous. The orbits are enormous, and the nose very flat and quite unique in its great breadth. One of the two Neander-man skulls from the Belgian cave of Spy shows the face bones, and these agree with what has just been stated as to the French skull.

Hence it appears that a short race with a very strange and low-browed type of skull preceded the men of the Reindeer Age. When, thirty years ago, only the original skull-top from the Neander cave (Fig. 76) was known, Virchow, of Berlin, considered it to be probably that of an idiot, whilst Huxley expressed the opinion that it indicates a race of men with decidedly low development, and in some respects more ape-like characters than modern Europeans; but he held that it is not to be considered as “a missing link,” nor as taking us appreciably nearer from modern man to the apes, since it is most closely approached by the flat skulls, already well known, of some of the South Australian natives, both in shape and in the cubical capacity of the brain-cavity. What I mean by the flatness of the skull may be understood by looking at a side view of a monkey’s skull (Fig. 81) and of an ordinary European human skull (take the Cromagnon skull as equivalent, Fig. 75) placed upright, so that the eyes are looking forward. If in an outline or photograph of each of these skulls you draw a straight line from a point between the eyebrows back to a point just below the most projecting ridge of the hindermost region of the skull, you will find that above that line in the monkey’s skull is a slightly curved surface—the roof of the brain-case. But in the human skull above the similarly drawn line the roof bulges so as to form an almost hemispherical dome, rising sometimes vertically in the front region to form “the straight, high forehead” (which Shakespeare commended, even in woman). It swells out in the hinder region also. Now the Neander skulls, and to a less extent the skulls of many of the Australian aborigines, are more like the monkey’s in this matter; the dome of the roof is shallow and flat, and the forehead does not rise up, but slopes backwards, so that the whole contents of the brain-case are lessened by the reduction of the frontal and upper region. And there is reason to consider this frontal region of the brain as specially connected with some of the higher intellectual qualities of the mind.

We know a little more about the skull of the Neander race since Huxley wrote, owing to the further discovery of specimens. The Australian’s skull has usually a more projecting upper jaw and upper front teeth than has the Neander Man’s. The Neander skulls stand alone in the great breadth of the orbits and of the nasal region as compared with all known skulls. They are also alone (the Gibraltar skull and the new French specimen are the only ones which show it) in the contour of the upper jaw. In other human skulls there is a broad depression of the surface—a nipping-in, as it were—behind the root of the canine tooth on each side. This is absent in the Neander race; the bone here is flat, and not in-pushed. This absence of “modelling,” absence of the canine “fossa” or valley (as it is called), is seen in the larger apes as well as in the Neander Men. This point does not show in our figures. Some writers think it probable that the Neander Men of the late Glacial Age were the ancestors of the Cromagnards of the Reindeer Age, and also that the artistic Cromagnards were transformed, after many thousand years, into the comparatively dull and inartistic people of the Neolithic period. It seems to me, on the contrary, more probable (as is held by some of the French prehistorians) that the Reindeer Men died out, and were replaced by the Neolithic herdsmen who migrated into Western Europe as the climate became milder. The notion that the Esquimaux of to-day are the Reindeer Men of France who have migrated northwards with their reindeer, following the receding ice, has been entertained, but is regarded by the most careful inquirers as untenable. As to the earlier change of race, I hold that it is not possible to contend that the Neander Men developed into the Cromagnards of the Reindeer Age actually in the south of France. If the lower race or species gave rise to the higher, the enormous transformation did not occur here nor in Europe at all, nor during the later Pleistocene period. Human skulls of the Reindeer Age are known which present an approach to the characters of the Neander race, such as the heavy bony eyebrows. But it seems that this is accounted for by the survival of some Neander families alongside of the powerful Cromagnard men and the interbreeding of the two. The Cromagnards had probably lived with their reindeer in some more southern area during the late Glacial Age, and arrived in southern France as the climate improved and became suitable to their accustomed quarry. How and where they developed from a lower type of men we have at present no indication.

A very remarkable discovery of the last five years made in the course of the careful excavation of the four caverns of Mentone by the Prince of Monaco, where as many as sixteen human skeletons of the Pleistocene Age have been brought to light, gives us a new point of view as to the presence of more than one race in Europe in these immensely remote times, as in later periods. In one of the caves, and in a position showing them to date from the deepest layer of the middle Pleistocene, or late Glacial Age, two complete skeletons have been found (and may be seen alongside those of the Cromagnon race in the museum at Monaco), which are obviously different from those of both the Neander and the Cromagnon people. They have skulls which decidedly resemble that of the modern negro race, so that they have been definitely assigned to a new race hitherto unknown in European caves, and are spoken of as “the negroid skeletons” and “the Grimaldi race.” This is indeed a startling fact. There was land stretching across the Mediterranean in those days, and these skeletons suggest that already there was a negroid race in Africa, individuals of which had wandered north as far as the maritime Alps.[9] Two or three negroid skulls of Neolithic (therefore very much later) Age have been found in Brittany and in Switzerland. When we reflect that the negroid skeletons of Mentone and those of the contemporary Neander Men are probably more than 100,000 years old, we are at once impressed with the important conclusion that already in that remote period three great branches of the human race had come into existence—the negroid, the Neander, and probably, at a more distant spot, also the highly developed Cromagnards. The origin of the really primitive race of man is thrown back in time by these facts to a still more remote period, in fact, to an earlier geologic epoch. And it is to be noted over and above these facts that we have no indication as to where the much later race, the Neolithic Men, came from, nor who were their contemporaries outside the European area; nor again do we know where the historic races who succeeded the Neolithic Men took their origin. When other regions of the earth have been examined as carefully as Western Europe has been, we shall no longer be in such complete darkness.

When one ventures to speculate as to the story of the earliest men in Europe, one can but feel, even after handling the specimens and carefully following the excavations, how small and fragmentary and difficult to interpret is the evidence at present brought to light. And yet there the evidence is, gathered with the utmost care and intelligent method, discussed and interpreted by men of rare knowledge and experience, who, after long comparison of contending opinions and the discovery of an ever-increasing body of fact, have arrived at a definite certainty as to the sequence of arts, races, animals, and climates which I have given above, and is again summarised in the tabular statement on page 384 _bis_.

Hereafter these conclusions will be modified and extended by excavations in other parts of the world, at present untouched. The one point upon which the best authorities will not commit themselves is the exact, or even approximately exact, number of thousands of years which these events have occupied. The whole story, so far as it is at present worked out, is a marvellous result of patient research and scientific reasoning. Some of the cave collections upon which it is based are to be seen in London, in the British Museum.

There is one other discovery of a fossil man which comes properly at this point, to cap and confirm what has already been said. Fifteen years ago a skull-top and a thigh-bone were found by Dr. Dubois at Trinil, in the island of Java, at a depth of thirty feet in a sandy deposit, considered by good authority (but not certainly) to be of Pliocene age. From recent reports on the deposit it seems that it may very well be of Pleistocene age. These remains have become celebrated as those of a monkey-like man, and the name Pithecanthropus has been given to the creature to which they belonged. This skull-top (or cranial roof) is now in Utrecht, and is well known (Fig. 78). It indicates a race of men or men-like creatures, with the flatness of skull, receding forehead, and large bony eye-ridges, such as we see in the Neander Men and in some South Australians, but greatly exaggerated. The skull was so low and flat as greatly to resemble that of the Gibbon, though much larger. The volume of the cranial cavity (showing the size of the brain) was about 900 units—far smaller than that of the average Australian—the skull of smallest cavity among living races of men. The volume of the brain-cavity of the largest ape (gorilla) amounts to about 500 units (cubic centimetres); so that, allowing for rare individual fluctuations of as much as one-fourth more or one-fourth less (an amount of variation which, great as it is, is definitely known and recorded in specimens of the skulls of human races), we get the following list of “cranial capacities” or brain-sizes, forming a nearly unbroken series between the highest European and the ape. The middle figure represents the normal or average, and the first and last figure in each group the constant, though rare, minimum and maximum. Gorilla, 350, 500, 650; Java race, 675, 900, 1125; Australians, 900, 1200, 1500; Cromagnard and European, 1165, 1550, 1940 (European skulls of this great capacity are known). The Neander-man skulls are left out of the above list—although the Corrèze specimen allows of a satisfactory measurement of its capacity—for a very curious reason, which is explained in the next chapter.

FOOTNOTES

[9] In this connection it seems to be important to note the “Ethiopic” character of the arrangement of the hair in the little carving of a woman’s head from the Brassempouy Cave (dep. Landes), shown in Fig. 7.

XLIII

MORE ABOUT THE NEANDER MEN

Since writing what precedes I have been able more than once to gratify my keen desire to examine the wonderful human skull from the Chapelle-aux-Saints in the Corrèze (Central France). The skull has been photographed, and an excellent figure of it is reproduced in our Fig. 65. But it is one thing to look at a picture of such a specimen, and another to take it into one’s hands and closely examine it. The skull is in the care of my friend, Professor Marcelin Boule, who is at the head of the great collection of remains of extinct animals in the Jardin des Plantes.

It has been treated by him with great skill so as to render the bone firm and hard, whilst detached portions have been fitted into place, so that it is fairly complete (Fig. 65). The skull was found (together with many bones of the skeleton of the same individual) by two enthusiastic local archæologists buried at such depth and in such position in the cave known as the Chapelle-aux-Saints as to leave no doubt as to its belonging to one of a race of men contemporary with the mammoth and hairy rhinoceros—a race which inhabited Europe in the great glacial period—called by prehistorians “the Moustierian period,” which cannot be less than a hundred thousand years behind us, and probably is more. The chief importance of this skull lies in the fact not only that its position in the cave-deposits, and therefore its relative age, was carefully ascertained, but that it agrees in its very peculiar form with the Neanderthal skull (from the Rhineland), the Spy skulls (Belgium), and the Gibraltar skull. It, in fact, confirms the conclusion that at this period the caves of Western Europe were inhabited by a race of men with peculiar skulls, which may be called the Neander race in reference to the first-discovered skull of the kind. They were altogether different from the Reindeer Men, or Cromagnards, who came later upon the scene.

The fact was published some four months ago that the new Corrèze skull agrees with the celebrated skull-top (called a “calvaria” by anatomists) of the Neanderthal (Fig. 76) in the extraordinary shallowness or absence of “dome,” in the retreating forehead, the thick prominent eyebrow ridges, and in the excessive “lowness,” or want of elevation of the back region. But further study of the new skull has enabled Professor Boule to show, as he demonstrated to me, that the outline of the new skull looked at from above coincides not merely approximately, but exactly with that of the Neanderthal skull. There is the same great length from eyebrows to occiput, and the same great breadth at a series of corresponding regions. The curious thing is that both these skulls are of enormous size—a good deal bigger in length and breadth than modern European skulls, and not small and ape-like, though they are far shallower (that is, less high in the dome) than any skulls of living men. I had, myself, always been astonished by the great breadth and length of the casts of the Neanderthal skull which we possess in England, and supposed that possibly the casts were carelessly made. Now Professor Boule shows that both the Neanderthal and the Corrèze skull are so much larger in breadth and length than average European skulls, that in spite of its flat, depressed shape, the Corrèze skull (and consequently the Neanderthal skull, too) has a brain-cavity holding 1600 cubic centimetres, whilst the average modern European skull only holds 1500 to 1550. The estimate given by former observers for the Neanderthal skull was as low as 1200. This calculation was based on the diminution of volume caused by the flatness of the skull, and would be correct were the skull of the Neander race no longer or broader than an ordinary European skull. If we imagine a skull of the ordinary European proportionate height, but as long and as broad as the Neander skulls, then its volume would be something like 2000 cubic centimetres. This is a very remarkable result. The ancient Neander Men’s brain was not smaller, but actually a little bigger than that of modern Europeans; it was bigger in regions where the modern European is small, and smaller where that is large!

If we had any sufficient knowledge of the mental qualities which belong to different regions of the brain (if, indeed, such localisation of qualities is possible), we might draw some interesting conclusions from this difference between the two races. But unfortunately our knowledge on that matter is very defective. We are not in a position to say that length and breadth of the brain either can or cannot compensate (so to speak) for shallowness. It is probable that the mental qualities of the two forms of brain were in important respects different, but that is all that can at present be said. No accredited brain student would, until more is known, venture to draw conclusions as to mental quality from such facts as mere breadth, length, and depth of the cranial cavity.

The Corrèze skull has a strongly-projecting face, depending not merely on a protrusion of the dentary border of the upper jaw, but on a forward thrust of the entire face. This is not shown by the Gibraltar skull (Fig. 77). It is not improbable that this region has been flattened in the Gibraltar skull whilst it was buried in the cave deposit and softened by water. The lower jaw is preserved in the new French specimen, and is very remarkable on account of the retreating chin and the lowness and backward flexion of the articular process, as well as for the large size of the surface by which it articulates with the skull. All the cheek-teeth have been shed (see Fig. 65), and the sockets closed owing to inflammation, showing that primitive European man was subject to the same trouble with his teeth from which civilised men of to-day suffer. In comparing the skull with the skulls of modern races, Professor Boule is not inclined to insist much on the resemblance to Australian and Tasmanian skulls presented by the thick and large brow-ridges. A careful study of the skull is giving to Professor Boule many facts of importance which will be published ere long. The articular surfaces or “condyles” of the skull (for instance) by which it was set on the neck vertebræ are so set that the head must have been habitually carried with a droop like that of an animal, and not poised upright on the neck as in modern races of man.

Not less important than the skull are some of the bones of the arm and leg. Indeed, they show more novel characters than the skull, and definitely distinguish the Neander Men so as to justify us in regarding them as a distinct species, _Homo Neanderthalensis_. The thigh-bone is very short: as compared with that of a modern European, it is as 14 to 18. Also it is thick and _curved_. This was already known in the Neander Man of the Spy cave, and its confirmation by the specimen from the Corrèze establishes this shortness of the thigh as a specific character. There are also strange features in the articulation of the bones of the thumb and of the heel which Professor Boule will make known when he publishes his full account of this most astonishing skeleton.

It is worth noting here that another skull of the same race—that of a young individual—was dug out in 1908 at Moustier by Mr. Hauser, a Swiss explorer. The specimen was broken into many fragments and has not been satisfactorily put together, so that at present it is not possible to say whether it gives any further information as to the Neander Man. Also in 1909 the French explorers have found another skull and skeleton of the same age and race at Ferassi, near Moustier, on the Veyzere. It has been carefully removed, but not yet studied. The bones of the hand and of the foot are complete, and will be available for confirming the observations made on the skeleton of the Chapelle-aux-Saints.

We have, a few pages back, noted that behind the Glacial or Moustierian period of the Pleistocene (the second of our list, the Reindeer period being the latest), geologists recognise a third or warm period which is represented by deeper cave-deposits and by some of the older sands, clays, and gravels of our river valleys. As in the Moustierian deposits, so in these older deposits (called “Chellean” after a French township) we find abundant large flint implements (Figs. 73, 74) indicating the presence of man. But the animals associated with him were not the mammoth and the hairy rhinoceros; they were the _Elephas antiquus_ and a distinct kind of rhinoceros, and most distinctively the hippopotamus. These beds and their animal remains and worked flints occur abundantly in the South of England, and have been more or less mistaken for and confused with the glacial Moustierian deposits which also are common in England. No bones or skulls of the men of this Chellean period have been found, excepting a lower jaw, which was not long ago discovered in a deposit of this warmer and earlier age, near Heidelberg (Fig. 82). This jaw-bone is remarkably well preserved, and the great difference between it and that of a modern European may be seen by comparing our Figures 79 and 82. In the absence of chin, the great breadth of the up-turned part of the jaw and the shallowness of the notch separating the condyle or articulating knob from the more forwardly placed “coronoid” process (a well-marked triangular process in the modern European jaw), the Heidelberg jaw differs from the modern European, and resembles that of the chimpanzee (Fig. 81).

Dr. Schoettensack of Heidelberg, who has described this remarkable jaw-bone and has very kindly presented casts of it to the Natural History Museum, to Oxford, to Cambridge, and to myself, was of the opinion that it indicated a distinct race or even a distinct species of man. But Professor Marcelin Boule has found that when the lower jaw of the skull from the Chapelle-aux-Saints is “reconstructed,” not only by replacing the parts broken away, but by restoring the teeth and the absorbed sockets of the teeth, it comes out very closely identical with the Heidelberg jaw. In Fig. 80 I have reproduced the profile of Professor Boule’s complete restoration of the “Chapelle” skull, and it will be seen that the lower jaw differs very little from that of the Heidelberg specimen. Indeed, Professor Boule has published a photograph in which he attaches the Heidelberg lower jaw to the restored Chapelle skull in place of its own, and the similarity of the two becomes very obvious.

As will be seen by the drawings which I give here, the Heidelberg jaw is even more powerful than that of the Chapelle skull. The lower jaw of a modern European (Fig. 79), drawn to the same scale as the other two, and as that of the chimpanzee (Fig. 81), is an elegant little thing with its forwardly-projecting chin, its short measurement from front to back, and the narrowness and delicacy of its up-turned part or ramus, with its well-marked angle at the lower corner and deeply cut upper border between the condyle (hindermost projection with knob) and the coronoid.

The imperfect lower jaw (without teeth and with the articular condyle broken away) of the Cromagnon skull, drawn in Fig. 75, should also be compared: it is, though broken, similar to that of the modern European. Lower jaws differ in some of the points which we have been looking at, from one another, but there is no known living race of men the lower jaw of which is not far nearer to that of the modern European (Fig. 79), than to that from the Chapelle-aux-Saints or from Heidelberg (Fig. 82); and I may add that the imperfect lower jaw of the Neander-man skull, from the Spy Cave in Belgium, agrees in the absence of chin and in other points with that of Heidelberg and of the Chapelle skull. There is not sufficient ground afforded by the characters of the lower jaw for considering that the race indicated by the Heidelberg specimen was distinct from the Neander race, as may be seen by comparing Fig. 80 with Fig. 82.

As these pages are going to press, I am able to add that I have seen in Paris a very interesting and striking restoration of the appearance in the flesh or during life of the head of the man of the Chapelle-aux-Saints, carefully modelled in Professor Boule’s laboratory by a young sculptor, by applying his clay to a cast of the completed restoration of the skull. It is, I understand, proposed to publish this restoration firstly as strictly determined by anatomical fact and devoid of hair, and then to add the hair of the scalp, the eyebrows, eyelashes, and beard, and to place artificial eyes in position. We shall thus get a representation of this ancient race or species of man, based on the sure foundation of the actual bones. Fanciful portraits of “primitive man” have before to-day been produced by some imaginative artists, but this will be the first portrait of him with an inner framework of truth.

INDEX

Amœba, term applied to proteus animalcule, 194

Andrews, discoveries of, with regard to ozone, 252

Animalcules, bell, unicellular structure exemplified in, 197-199
ciliated unicellular, graceful movements of, 207
dried, examples of “suspended animation” in, 168, 169
proteus, processes of protoplasm in, 195
sun, processes of protoplasm in, 195
unicellular plants and, essential differences between, 204-207

Animals, aquatic, excess of egg production to ensure survival
to maturity, 143, 144
aversions and cautious proceedings of, 269
blindness of, congenital, 272, 273
colour-protection and invisibility of, 304, 312
“concealment” and “warning” marks, distinction between, 310-313
destructive invasions made by various, 339, 340
devices adopted for protection of young by, 138, 139, 144
domesticated, reasons for continued congenital defects in, 271, 272
hibernation of, 165, 166
lower, various thread-producing, 293, 294
mankind and, causes of congenital defects in, 273
parthenogenetic powers possessed by certain, 330, 331
poisonous, methods of self-protection used by, 101
“warning” coloration possessed by, 107
propagation of, 132-137, 144-145, 329-330
sleep of, salient features connected with, 161-164
structure of multicellular and unicellular, comparisons between, 207-208
unicellular, uses made of cilia by, 194-197, 207
wild, congenital defects less obvious in, 271, 272
wood-boring, 346, 347

_Anopheles_ Gnat, 3

Ants, aphides and, friendship between, 324, 325

Aphides—
enemies of, 319, 325
hop-blight caused by species of, 317, 319
parthenogenetic propagation of, 326-327, 330, 334, 336
rapid propagation of, 326, 338
relationship of _Coccidæ_ to, 322, 323
secretive productions of, 323-325
various species of, 322

Archæology, discoveries in connection with pre-historic man, 371-372, 391,
394-395, 398, 400, 402

Art, knowledge compatible with, 45

Astronomers, stupendous nature of work, 224

Astronomy, Halley’s discoveries in connection with, 226
Newton’s discovery of law of gravitation as affecting, 230
photography as affecting study of, 222
spectroscope as affecting study of, 224, 225

Atavism, feeble-mindedness resulting from, suggestion as to, 274

Athletes, experiments as to possible use of pure oxygen by, 260-263

Auzout, M., astronomical predictions attempted by, 229, 230

Bacon, Lord, quotation from, 1, 14

Bacteria, destructive invasion made by, 340
microscopic observation of, improvement in, 239

Balfour, Rt. Hon. Arthur, speech at Manchester by, 6, 7 (quotation)

Bananas, cultivated varieties of, 369
plantains and, identity of, 368

Bayeux tapestry, 231

Becquerel, M., experiments of, 183

Beetles, book-worm, depredations of, 350-351
death-watch, tapping made by, 351, 352
wood-boring, 351, 352
wood-boring, 349-350
lady-bird, beneficial activity of, 319, 325, 326
origin of name, 325
perforation of soft metal by grubs of, 353

Bell-animalcules, 197

Birth-rate, increased, amongst poorer classes, 285, 286

Blood, lack of red colour in, cause of, 148, 149
red-coloured, cause and special duty of, 148

Bonaparte, Prince Roland, French representative at Darwin Centenary
Celebration, 39

Book-worm beetle, 350

Boulenger, Charles, Egyptian fresh-water jelly-fish described by, 64

Boys, C. V., fine quartz threads spun by, 294, 295

Caddis-worms, movable cases made by grubs of, 343

Calandruccio, discovery of young of the eel by, 71-72

Cambridge—Darwin Centenary Celebration, Address by Sir Ray Lankester at, 33-37
held at, 18, 33, 38
notable representatives at, 33, 38, 39

Cave-men, ancient, artistic skill of, 80, 81
horse mastered and muzzled by, 80, 81

Caves, care taken in excavation of, 388
discoveries of human remains in deposits of, 371, 374, 383, 393, 395, 402,
407-409
discovery of bones of ancient men in, rarity of, 372-374
French and English, evidences of human occupation found in, 78-79

Cells, definition and origin of term, 170-173, 328
egg-cell, process of fertilisation, 202-204, 330, 332
important part played by nucleus in life of, 198-200, 328, 329
individual character and co-ordinated activity of, 170, 180-182, 184, 328
process of division, 200-202, 328

“Cell-theory,” explanation of Professor Schwann’s, 174-176

Chapelle-aux-Saints, discovery at, important, 371, 374, 390, 402

Children, feeble-minded, number attending schools provided for, 278
result of neglect to provide supervision for, 279-281

China, introduction of opium smoking into, 366, 367

Chinese primrose, similarity between poisonous properties of _Rhus
toxicodendron_ and, 104

Cholera, bacillus of, organisms favouring or checking growth, 242, 243, 246-249
carriers of, 245
causes of, 237
Metchnikoff’s and Pettenkofer’s experiments in connection with, 240-241
definition of word, 237, 238
germs, destruction of, 244, 245
Indian, active development of sanitation in Great Britain,
due to panic caused by, 239
date of first appearance in England, 238
diffusion through water-supply, 239
discovery by Koch of bacillus producing, 240
epidemic nature of, 238
Europeans first attacked by, 238
recognition of, by Hindu writers, 238
precautions to be observed for prevention of, 244, 245, 246

Cholera-bacillus. See Cholera

Christmas fare, origin of, 356-358

Cilia, animals provided with, and action of, 194, 195, 207
definition of term, 194
uses made of, by unicellular animals, 195-197, 207

“Cirrhipedes,” Darwin’s discovery with regard to, 23, 24

Civilisation, scientific knowledge as affecting, 16

Clothes moths, 341

_Coccidæ_, relationship of aphides to, 323

Colour, in bird’s feathers, 55, 56
nature and properties of light as affecting, 52-55

Comets, ancient records of, exaggeration in, 227, 229
composition of, 234, 235
Donati’s, imposing size of, 227
early superstitions with regard to, 227, 228
elliptical orbits of, 233
Halley’s—Chinese astronomical observations relating to antiquity of, 230
length and breadth of orbit, 233
length of tail, 227
predicted recurrences by discoverer of, 226, 230
recent appearance of, 226, 230, 236
significance of date of return, 228, 229
superstition and consternation caused by, 230, 231
William the Conqueror’s “star,” identical with, 231
important, various, 227
Milton’s reference in _Paradise Lost_ to, 228, 229
periodic and wandering, distinction between, 233, 234
photographs obtained at Royal Observatory, Greenwich, of new, 225, 226
shooting stars and, connection between, 235, 236
signification of name, 227
superstitions with regard to, 229

Corrèze skull, 371

Cromagnards, designation of Reindeer men as, reason for, 390

Cuba, measures adopted for prevention of yellow fever and malaria in, 2, 3

Darwin Centenary Celebration at Cambridge, 18, 33, 38

Darwin, Charles—
comparison between theories of Lamarck and, 19, 20
connection with University of Cambridge, 36
establishment of “natural selection” theory, 34
extent of time spent in experiments and observations, 18-19, 22-23
friendly relations between Wallace and, 13, 37
geological discoveries of, 24
Henslow’s influence upon, 36
“Natural selection” theory explained, 27-29
study of disease influenced by discoveries and research of, 39, 40

_Darwinism_ (Wallace), 15, 16 (quotation)

Death-rate, diminished, reasons accountable for, 284, 285
health of locality determined by, 283
records of, methods of keeping, 283, 284

Death-watch beetle, 351, 352

De Lastic, Vicomte, carvings from caves in collection of, 79

Dewar, Sir James, experiments of, 183

Divers, Mediterranean, suggested inhalation of pure oxygen gas by, 261

Diving, Fleuss apparatus, diluted oxygen supply to, 263-265

Donati’s comet, 227

Dragon, heraldic, description of, 114, 115

Dragons, classification of, by heralds, 120
conventional, probable sources of, 126
probable origin, 121-123
snakes and, connection between, 120-123
tradition of, reasons for discrediting suggested, 118-120

Drugs, individual variability (idiosyncrasy) with regard to, 102

Eau-de-Cologne, volatile oils from aromatic plants of Riviera used
in manufacturing, 47

“Eel-fare,” term for annual “running up” of young eels, 67, 70, 73, 75

Eel-fisheries, regulation and encouragement by Danish Government of inland, 65
German Government of inland, 65, 66

Eels, age of, knowledge resulting from power of telling, 69
shown by scales, 69
common, period when change from “yellow” to “silver” takes place in, 67, 69, 70
reproduction, migrations and habits of, 66-67, 69-76
“leptocephalus-young-phase” or tadpole of, 71-73, 75
migrations of, geological changes as affecting, 74
Petersen’s researches with regard to “silver,” 68, 69
popularity of, abroad, 65, 66
rare occurrence of, in river Danube, 74, 75

“Elvers,” term for young eels, 66, 67, 70, 71, 73, 75, 76

Europe, iron, stone, and bronze ages of, 375-377

Evelyn, diary of, 229 (quotations)

Feeble-minded, distinctions between lunatics and, 274-276
laws relating to lunatics and, need for improvement in, 275
necessity for state guardianship of, 276-278

Feeble-minded children, 278

Feeble-mindedness, atavism suggested cause of, 274
hereditary transmission of, 277
occurrence of cases in all classes of community, 276
views of Government Commission on origin of, 281