Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/743

 EVOLUTION

665

EVOLUTION

the teeth. Thirdly, if we take the European material into consideration as well, we are confronted with widely divergent opinions, so much so that the bril- liant pedigree becomes greatly dimmed. In particu- lar, the Eocene forms and the still more remote genus Phenacodus are avowedly very dubious ancestors of the horse. Lastly, it is well within the range of possi-

In all, eighty figures are represented, of which number forty-nine are those of bisons.

From what has been said we may conclude that man, in the first stage of civilization known to us, ap- pears as a true Homo sapiens; but how he arrived at that stage is a problem we are quite unable to answer, because all records are wanting. The bones, too,

Sub-family

lEgu

J. Plin

t*uu i iiui; 11 - Pliohippus

auu i iiui,ciic J I p,.Q(^^jppyg

Meryckippus Upper Miocene f Pa/(Bo(Aenn(E (with a j Miohippus Lower Miocene f greatly different skuilj ( Mesohippus

[■ Ass

1 One toe between I "/ ruiliments Three toes (1 main,

J secondary)

Lower Eocene J

( Orohippus ^ Hymrothe, \ Eohippus

I Three toes with larger middle ont

> Sheep Three toes and rudi- mentary splint Three toes ) Four toes Three toes

[■Fox ;; ;;

) " " and rudiment " "

ius and Ulna; Teeth I and Fibula United Long-crowned

Di%'ided Short-,

Table op Difference.s in Pal.bontological Equid^e

bility that the ancestors of the Equirue and the de- scendants of the older sub-families have remained un- discovered up to the present time.

(4) Man. It remains for us briefly to examine the historical records to see if we can obtain reliable in- formation concerning the last and most important " ascent " to Homo sapiens. The oldest authenticated traces of man consist of stone implements, and they are derived from the lower Quaternary strata. Whether the so-called "eoliths" of the Tertiary Era are really the handiwork of man, cannot be decided with certainty. Eminent scientists, as Boule, Obcr- maier, tie Lapparent, in their works published in 1905, have denied the human origin of these objects. Con- cerning the first stages in the civilization of diluvian man little can be said. This period, according to Hoernes, falls under three sul>groups, separated from one another and preceded by a glacial period. The first intermediate epoch (epoque du grand ours) lies close to the Pliocene age, and is called, after the prin- cipal place of its discovery, the stage of Tillou.x-Tau- bach (Krapina), or Chell^o-Moust^rien. The fauna is mostly tropical and includes, among others, Elephas antiquum, Rhinoceros Merckii, and, most important of all, Ursus spela:>is. Taubach's field of discovery was a camp in which the fireplace, remnants of food, and the simple utensils of Germany's first inhabitants were found in situ (Hoernes). The second intermediate epoch {ipoque du mammouth) is named the Solutr^en stage, after the place where important discoveries were made in France. It contains, besides the mam- moth, the wild horse and numerous predatory ani- mals such as Leo, Ursus, Hycena, etc., though the num- bers greatly decrea.se as we draw to the end of the tinct. A large number of the stone implements are of fine workmanship and there are, besides these, various kinds of carving on bone and ivory, plastic figures of men, anil drawings of animals on the walls of the caves. The cave of Combarelles (Dordogne), for example, is decorated with 100 drawings of animals. The orna- mentation in the Solutrcen, with its wavelike curves and spirals, indicates an almost enigmatical degree of development which would appejir to be more in keep- ing with the culture of the metal age than with the more remote stone age. The third intermediate epoch {ipoque du renne) had a bleaker climate. It is called the Magdaleine stage, after La Magdaleine, in France. The stone implements are homely, but often very finely constructed, "small implements made for delicate hands by delicate hands" (Hoernes). Pointed and hooked himting weapons were also foimd, as well as numerous instruments of various kinds manufactured out of bone and horn, and all of them reveal considerable artistic taste and judgment. Real frescoes adorn the walls of the Font-de-Faune cave.
 * )eriod, wliile the Ursus spelaeus becomes entirely ex-

which are supposed to date from the primeval age of man are little calculated to solve the problem. A short resume of the results of recent investigations will make this clear Pithecanthropus erectus, the fa-

Cranium of Pithecanthkupus Erectus

mous ape-man of Trinil (Java), cannot be considered " the long-sought missing link in the chain of the high- est Primates ". As is well known, we have to do with a cranium of 850 sq. cm. capacity, a thigh-bone, and

two molar teeth; the skull and the thigh-bone were found lying about 16 yards apart. It is true the skull differs .somewhat from the skulls of present-day an- thropoids; it is, however, in general characteristics thoroughly apelike, as was pomted out recently by Schwulbe, Klaatscli, Macnamara, anil Kohlbrugge. The thigh-hone, according to Bumuller, l)ears the clos- est rcsriiil)hirice to the femur of the ape Hi/lobates. Hence the aiiprllation crw(»,s is a misnomer. Add to this that, according to the latest res(?arches, Pilhecan- thropus must have been a contemporary of primitive man, since the strata in which the bones were founil are diluvial. Hence Pithecanthropus cannot belong to the ancestral line of man. The bones of the Ni>ander- tal race of the Homo primigenius are undoubtedly