CHAPTER IX
pithecanthropus erectus [1]
The remains of fossil man, on which I now wish to make a few observations, are those discovered in 1891-2 by Dr Eugene Dubois, on the island of Java, consisting of a calvaria, two molar teeth, and a left femur. After carefully comparing these bones with the corresponding parts of other human skeletons, both fossil and modern, and with those of the anthropoid apes, Dr Dubois published in 1894 a very complete memoir on the subject, giving descriptive details and photogravures of each bone. In this memoir he attributes the remains to an animal having an erect attitude like man, and a brain-case with mixed characters, partly simian and partly human, to which he has given the name Pithecanthropus erectus. The conclusions arrived at by Dr Dubois have already been so largely criticised in the chief anthropological societies and journals throughout Europe, that it is unnecessary now to do more than to restate the main facts and arguments, in the light of some supplementary data which the author has more recently supplied in regard to the geological conditions under which the remains were found' a subject not very clearly elucidated in the original memoir. This information is contained in a paper communicated to the Royal Dublin Society on 25th November 1895 (Scientific Transactions, vol. vi., 2nd series) from which the following is an extract :—
"From Trinil to Ngawi the steep banks of the Bengawan or Solo river, for an extent of 7½ miles, consist exclusively of the above-mentioned volcanic
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As the Java human remains were found beyond the European area I had some hesitation in introducing them into our present discussions. As, however, they are the only anthropological discovery of major importance hitherto found in any country outside Europe, I have, included an abstract of a former notice of Pithecanthropus erectus, written shortly after Dr Dubois exhibited the Java remains at the principal anatomical schools of Europe.
