THE ANTHROPOID APE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12250, 23 September 1925, Page 4

THE ANTHROPOID APE

“REALLY MAN’S DESCENDANT” STARTLING THEORY SCOUTED MISSING LINK HOPEFULLY SOUGHT •“Faithful investigation," declared Professor Wood-Jones, professor of anatomy in the University of Adelaide, in an ad. dl-ess at Melbourne, "has led me to the startling conclusion that the anthropoid ape, commonly regarded by anthropologists as man's ancestor, is really his descendant. It is time we dropped the erroneous assumption thrft Darwin proved man's descent from the monkey. It is absurd to look for tho missing link, since man’s evolution occurred so .early and by far ante-dated the remains discovered in comparatively modern earth layers." Sir Arthur Smith Woodward, formerly director of tile British Natural History Museum at South Kensington, in an interview in regard to Professor WoodJones’s contention, stated that the views of all those Who had gone deeply into the question of man’s origin and evolution were entirely opposed to the’ conclu. sions of Professor Wood-Jones. "I knew Professor Wood-Jones well," Sir Arthur said, "when he was in London, and I remember him expressing in a lecture he delivered at King’s College in 1918, and which was afterwards published in book form with the title ‘The Problem of Man's Ancestry';’ certain ideas on the thme lines as those how formulated in his lecture.

“The lecture gives an entirely wrong impression to those who have not in, vestigated the question thoroughly. Briefly, the present view held regarding the relation between man and the ape is that all the evidence goes to show that man and the ape came from a common ancestor; but whereas the apes adapted themselves to living in a‘ forest, man adapted himself to living in an exact posture on'the plains. "There is no doubt that if the com. mpn ancestor were living now he would be classed as an ape or ’monkey. The little aniihal, Tarsius, which inhabits the forests of Borneo, is believed by anthropologists to be more like the com-, mon ancestor of many and ape than any other living creature. Fossils strongly .resembling the animal have been found in the Eocene rocks of Europe and North. America, and fossils of creatures belonging to the same group discovered in different places, clearly indicate that this form of life was at one time to be met with in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere. "There is ( no doubt that some day there will be discovered man’s common ancestor, and, when found, in all probability he will be like this little animal Tarsius. It is absurd to say that the missing links are so ancient that they will never be found, as Professor WoodJones does. In fact, palaeontologists are as hopeful as ever about finding the missing links, and there is at the moment in Mongolia an American expedition searching for fossilised forms of an, cient man. There have been many suggestions as to which part of the earth man originally inhabited, but T should not be at all surprised if man’s cradle proved to be in Mongcjia."