Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/244

 CHAPTER IX

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