OUR REMOTE ANCESTORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 208, 3 September 1925, Page 7

OUR REMOTE ANCESTORS.

THE GALILEE SKULL. ADJUDGED THE MISSING LINK. LOXDOX, September 2. Sir Arthur Keith, Hunterian. Professor, Royal College of Surgeons, in an address given before 500 of the world's most eminent scientists at the congress of the British Association, delivered his eagerly-awaited judgment on the skull found at Galilee. Sir Arthur said Turville Petrie's spade in a robbers' cave laid bare the records of people who lived in Palestine 20,000 yeare before Abraham trekked eastward. The discovery showed that a dominant type of mankind spread abroad from their cradle-land, carrying their methods through life, until they had covered a large area of the world. The evidence favoured the theory that Europe was that cradle-land. "The owner of the skull," said the lecturer, "was a cousin to our ancestors, yet not an'ape, but a man with a. brain as large as that of a modern man. He was unquestionably the primitive missing link." Continuing, Sir Arthur said the Galilee skull belonged to a species of mankind which was profoundly different in structure from all living races. It was another breed of the Neanderthal man, having a narrow head and flat cheekbones. '"'lt was not our actual ancestor," he proceeded, "but it was a man. It is a profound mistake to regard the Neanderthal man as an ape. He had a brain which in point of size reached modern standards, even though its development was not the same. It is most .difficult to estimate brain possibilities even today. Man does not use more than onetenth of Ms brain power." Professor Sir William Bo.yd Dawkins. professor of geology and palaeontology at the Victoria University, Manchester, joined in the discussion. He said all Neanderthal men were missing links, but it must be realised that a vast gap existed between them and the men Of to-day. '"They were cousins of *rur ancestors," he said, "and their race perished from the earth. I a-n ret.T&senting the opinion of scientists in saying that this is one of the most intering discoveries made in the last 20 veara." (A. and N.Z. Cable.) ' Dr. Pyeroft, of the Zoological section of the British Museum, advanced the theory that the Polynesian migrant came from America, instead of having come to America from the Pacific. There was a surprising likeness between all these skulls, which cannot be a mere coincidence, but rather implied a common origin. "If my interpretation he accepted.' , said Dr. Pyeroft. "it will elucidate a problem which has long troubled us. Our conception of species and places is in a state of mush. Xo classification of man has yet been published that stands the test of criticism."—(A. and X.Z. Cable.)