![]() With the whole mammalian phylum to choose from he will seek in vain for data which will enable him to foretell, by an inspection of the glenoid cavity alone, what was the form of the jaw articulating therewith. Miller commits himself to the statement, "Thus must be associated in a single skull: ( a ) one type of jaw with another type of glenoid region," he implies that there exists a relationship between the mandible and the glenoid cavity which has no existence in fact. This unfortunate lack of the right perspective has caused him to overlook some of the most significant features of these remains, and has absolutely warped his judgment in regard to the relative values of the likenesses between these fragments and the skulls of the chimpanzee which he has so woefully misread. A very brief study of his arguments will show, however, that they are based on assumptions such as would never have been made had he not committed the initial mistake of overlooking the fact that these remainswhich, by the way, he has never seenare of extreme antiquity, and hence are to be measured by the standards of the palæontologist rather than of the anthropologist. He creates an impression indeed of having gone very thoroughly into the matter, with a wealth of material at his disposal enabling him to demolish completely the now generally accepted views as to the character of the skull of the Piltdown man. Miller, in his main thesis, is very emphatic in every statement he makes thereon. There does not seem to be much room for doubt about the "zoological meaning" of these remains indeed Mr. ![]() ![]() Miller's remarks in the opening passages of this summary: "The fossils are so fragmentary that their zoological meaning will probably remain a subject of controversy." It is difficult to reconcile these very dogmatic statements, which have a semblance of statements of act with Mr. In each instance the opposed characters are sharply defined and easily recognisable in the fossils." Thus must be associated in a single skull: ( a ) one type of jaw with another type of glenoid region, ( b ) one type of temporal muscle origin with another type of temporal muscle insertion, ( c ) a high degree of basicranial adjustment to the upright position with absence of that corresponding modification in the lower jaw called for by all that is now actually known of the structure of the brain-case and mandible in primates, and ( d ) a protruding lower jaw with a form of nasal bone not elsewhere known except in connection with a contracted upper dental arch. In order to believe that all fragments came from a single individual, it is necessary to assume the existence of a primate differing from all other known members of the order by combining a brain-case and nasal bones possessing the exact characters of a genus belonging to one family, with a mandible, two lower molars, and an upper canine possessing the exact characters of a genus belonging to another. 3 On the evidence furnished by these characters the fossils must be supposed to represent either a single individual belonging to an otherwise unknown extinct genus ( Eoanthropus ) or to two individuals belonging to two now-existing families (Hominidæ and Pongidæ). In his summary 2 he tells us that "The Piltdown remains include parts of a brain-case showing fundamental characters not hitherto known except in members of the genus Homo, and a mandible, two molars, and an upper canine showing equally diagnostic features hitherto unknown, except in members of the genus Pan. Miller that the cranial portions of this now famous skull are unequivocally human, while the lower jaw is as certainly that of a chimpanzee. The result of that inquiry has been to convince Mr. Smith Woodward, and other British anthropologists, as to the nature of the Piltdown remains. ![]() This comparison was undertaken with the perfectly legitimate purpose of arriving at an independent opinion as to the conclusions arrived at by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, of the United States National Museum, to compare a set of casts of the skull of the Piltdown man, supplied by the British Museum, with the skulls of anthropoid apes. Miller of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, was requested by Dr.
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