HUMAN AT LAST
THE BRAIN OF PREHISTORIC MAN
Those individual characteristics which distinguish the orang,
chimpanzee, and gorilla may be easily recognized. Yet, notwithstanding
their striking differences, these animals all belong to the same
family, called the _Simiidæ_. As a family this was and still remains
the highest in the ape world. All of the great apes manifest certain
pronounced manlike tendencies. Up to this point they were progressive,
but beyond it they did not go. They were not equipped to reach the
upper footholds or to gain the vast plateaus on the top of the world.
This last achievement remained for another, who, being freed from many
simian restrictions, had already outstripped the anthropoids.
_Human Superiority_
As a machine, this newcomer in the animal world was more effective than
any of his forerunners. His human superiority was not due to higher
speed, greater strength, or better staying powers. Many of his animal
competitors could far outdistance him, could easily overpower him,
could surpass him in endurance. He did, however, have an exceptional
advantage. He was able to combine these essential qualities with
many others in a variety of ways and thus gain an ultimate supremacy.
In the end it was better brain power that raised man above his lower
contemporaries and set him on his path toward human success. This new
power of his did not come all at once. It needed the steady effort of
ages to reach its present development. Compared with the existence
of other species, the human race is relatively young. In point of
geologic time so also is the human brain. Many students are agreed
that temporally and in other respects our brain has scarcely outgrown
its childhood. The brain power of to-day may require further ages of
development to attain its highest possibilities.
When man first appeared on earth he had much in common with the
great apes. Although not descended from them, he had inherited with
them many qualities from a common ancestor. It is now settled beyond
question that in earliest times the human brain possessed all of the
basic patterns and mechanisms still to be found in the gorilla, the
chimpanzee, and the orang. It had one fundamental advantage that
greatly improved its capacity for developing its power. Expansion was
the secret of this advantage. It was apparent in all parts of the
superbrain, but most prominent in the department of the highest mental
faculties, the frontal lobe. We may discern this great advance at a
glance by comparing the sloping, narrow foreheads of the great apes
with the high and prominent brow of man. The frontal lobe gradually
pushed forward over the eyes, and in consequence the forehead slowly
rose above them. It seems fair to say that as the brow grew higher
through successive stages the race gradually rose in humanity. We are
still much in the dark concerning the early phases of this slow rise
to power. Some of the stages, it is probable, we shall never know. On
the other hand, a large number of human fossils have been found during
the past century. From these it is possible to decipher what the human
brain must have been like at certain critical periods of man’s long
journey. The brain, like all other soft parts of the body, disappears
in time after death. How is it possible, therefore, to speak about the
brains of men long since dead, or of races long ago extinct?
_The Fossil Records of Man_
It is true that only the bones of ancient peoples remain to tell us
what they were like. Many of these bones have become fossilized by
impregnation with minerals and are, so to speak, turned into stone.
Thus they make an enduring record of man’s bony framework. From these
petrified bones we can read many things about the people of the past to
whom they belonged. We can measure their height, determine the manner
in which they held their bodies in walking, and estimate their muscular
strength. We may even rebuild their bodies about their skeletons by
using certain standard measurements and so gain a fair idea of what
these men must have looked like when alive. From the shape of the head
it is possible to decide whether the jaw was massive and protruding,
or of modern type; whether the cheek bones were heavy and prominent
or relatively inconspicuous; whether the forehead was low and receding
or high and broad; whether the nose was flattened or had a high nasal
bridge; whether the chin was weakly developed or large and firm;
whether the brain case was small, round, and narrow, or long, high
vaulted, and capacious.
_Brain Casts of Extinct Races of Men_
Many other characters of extinct races may be determined by means
of exact measurement. So much has already been accomplished in this
way that it is possible to reproduce a reasonable facsimile of races
that vanished long ago. It is possible also to reproduce a reasonable
likeness of their brains. Reproductions of this kind depend upon the
use of the fossil skulls as molds from which plaster of Paris casts
are made. Upon the inner surface of the skull the brain makes certain
definite impressions. It leaves grooves in the bone where great
arteries run. It shows deep indentations caused by the convolutions. It
contains other landmarks indicating the size and position of certain
prominent features in the brain. These casts do not show the brain
characters in all their sharp details because within the skull the
brain is covered by three layers of membranes and surrounded by a thin
jacket of fluid. In consequence, all of the prominent characters,
although easily recognized, are somewhat veiled. It is for this reason
that we are unable to detect every coil and groove in a brain cast
of a fossil skull. We may, however, discern many important features
and thus form an accurate estimate concerning the brain characters
of several prehistoric races of man. Many casts of this kind are now
available for study.
It is probable that a number of distinct species of prehistoric races
have passed away leaving no trace of themselves. Even the bones of
man’s body gradually crumble into dust unless, by some fortuitous
circumstance, they are slowly converted into stone through the
deposit of mineral salts. It seems likely that only a few of man’s
skeletal remains have been preserved for us in this manner. By far
the vast majority have gone the way of all flesh and most bones. The
few precious relics that we thus far have had the good fortune to
discover are treasured as rare possessions. They tell us in a somewhat
disconnected way of many ancient people who have lived long before our
times. Yet, however disconnected this story may be, however wide its
gaps, however serious its omissions, it would be improper to overlook
the fossil evidence of these early people. The fossilized relics must
be permitted to set forth the story which they have to tell while we
endeavour to keep our interpretations within the bounds imposed upon us
by the nature of the evidence.
_Brain of Java Ape Man_
The brain cast representing the most ancient race of men yet discovered
is that of the ape man of Java (_Pithecanthropus erectus_). Dr. Eugen
Du Bois, when he made his wonderful discovery in Java, found almost
the entire skull cap of this primitive man, who lived somewhere between
500,000 and 1,000,000 years ago. His brain was remarkably small. It was
not nearly so large as our modern brain or even as the brain of many
other prehistoric people. Its capacity was only 940 cubic centimetres.
This is small for a human brain, which ranges between 1000 to 1400
cubic centimetres. But if it is small for a man, it is much larger
than any ape brain. An interesting comparison as to the size of the
ape man’s brain is afforded when the brains of a large gorilla, of the
Java ape man, and of a modern man are placed side by side. At once the
differences are apparent. The brain we are now considering clearly
occupies an intermediate position between the gorilla and modern man.
The striking feature about the brain of the lowly ape man is the
great expansion which has taken place in the department and permanent
headquarters of the highest mental faculties--the frontal lobe.
Compared with the brain of the gorilla, there can be no dispute as to
the great advantages held by the ape man in this part of his brain. The
convolutions are plainly shown in this frontal area. In fact, these
coils are more prominent in this region than elsewhere. This fact does
not imply that the convolutions in the brain are supreme in the frontal
lobe of the ape man. If they seem less prominent in the other lobes
it is only because the frontal coils in all cases make more positive
impressions upon the skull. It is fortunate, though, that these coils
may be so clearly seen in that region of the superbrain which reveals
the development of the highest faculties. We should also bear in
mind that this department of the chief executive in the frontal lobe
is preëminently a human possession. A comparison with the gorilla’s
brain shows at once the great expansion which has occurred in the most
responsible portion of man’s superbrain. In consequence of such frontal
growth the human race distinguished itself in creation by acquiring all
that is implied in the title _Homo sapiens_ (man of wisdom).
Another decisive feature appears in this frontal region. The left
convolutions are slightly larger than those on the right side. In
all probability this difference in size indicates that a highly
characteristic human quality has already been introduced. In the ape
man the right hand already appears to have become the leader in all the
varied skillful performances of manual achievement.
_Speech_
In this early period it seems likely that man was using his hands
for constructive purposes. Of far more significance and bearing
more decisively upon the destiny of humanity is the appearance of a
well-marked coil in the lower portion of this frontal lobe on the left
side. In all living races of man this convolution is associated with
the control of spoken language. From this specialization it is apparent
that the ape man had acquired the powers of speech. Even if his frontal
lobe were small, it far surpassed that of any ape however highly
developed.
It is clear from these facts that the primitive ape man of Java had
risen to a plane far above the gorilla, although he was still much
below that of modern man. Visualized from his brain, this Java man must
have had increased powers of reasoning. He must have been capable of
making better adjustments to life than the gorilla or any of the great
manlike apes. He possessed the ability to build up a greater sphere of
experience and make some approach to human personality. His tendency
to right-handedness was a distinctly human character, around which are
built many of man’s most productive specializations. In all of his
qualities the Java man was much below his later human successors. It is
difficult to estimate how much skill he had acquired with his hands,
but it seems almost certain that he added one supreme advantage to the
motor equipment of animal life. HE HAD LEARNED TO SPEAK--to communicate
in verbal language. The animal machine had acquired a new means of
expressing itself. It was capable of developing a new output in the
production of which it became highly prolific.
Several theories have been advanced to explain the development of human
speech. One of these attributes the origin of language to gestures,
especially those made with the hands. Gestures indicating direction,
location, distance, size, shape, motion, number, and many other
specifications became associated with vocal expressions. These symbols
were the basis of language, which required special speech centres in
the brain for its control.
This means of communication laid the foundation of all human knowledge.
Doubtless the linguistic ability of the Javan ape man was extremely
crude, but he had taken a decisive step in a direction necessary to the
further development of mankind.
_More Effective Use of the Senses_
In the department of his body and contact senses the ape man’s brain
shows marked advances over the apes. The expansions here must be
regarded as particularly connected with the free use of the hands and
arms and the assumption of the erect posture. A much richer supply
of raw materials in the way of sense impressions from the legs and
arms, and from the body, generally speaking, made possible a more
effective turnover and output of nervous energy. During this time man
was learning many new uses for his hands in devising original means for
maintaining and advancing his footholds in life.
The departments of sight and hearing situated respectively in the
occipital and temporal lobes of the brain show that degree of expansion
which supplied greater human powers. Man could see, and understand
better what he saw. He could hear, and understand more fully what
he heard. He was capable of more effective appreciation of his
surroundings. If he obtained a better idea of the world through his
sense of sight, he put these more ample impressions to better use in
the visual direction of his actions and more especially in guiding the
work of his hands by his eyes.
If his sense of hearing likewise gave him better understanding of the
audible world about him, it was most important in that it contributed
to the upbuilding of his vocal speech. Sounds which he heard began to
have new meanings to him. From this it was but a step to translate such
sounds into spoken words with fixed meanings of their own.
In all of these particulars the brain of the ape man had made definite
advances. It was superior to all of its forerunners in the animal
kingdom. The fact that it had thus advanced brings to mind many
perplexing questions. Why had this great change taken place? What
causes had produced the marked extensions in the frontal lobes and in
all other lobes, sufficient at last to lift man up to a human level?
Attempts to answer such questions venture into the field of conjecture.
Many factors yet unknown may have been the real causes in producing
this remarkable change.
_The Human Hand and Foot_
One great difference between man and the manlike apes seems to be based
upon the character of the feet. Man had at length acquired two feet
upon which to stand upright and make his way. His erect posture had
caused many changes in his body, including the position of the head,
the relation of the eyes, and the length of his limbs. None of these
changes had more telling effect upon human destiny than the final
freeing of the hands for occupations other than locomotion. In this way
man acquired his most useful advantage--the hand. It became his chief
reliance, the basis of his constructive abilities, and the guide of
his analytical powers. It has been the achievement of his hands that
has carried man onward. Some authorities believe that brain development
was the chief factor in human progress. Such no doubt is the case,
but it was the hand that called upon the brain for its progressive
development.
Whatever other factors were at work, the hand was one of the most
potent influences in the rise of man. With the brain to direct its
action, to expand its usefulness, with the upright posture to give
free range to its executions, with speech to make its accomplishments
available to all, the hand became a master key, opening all the ways
leading through the vast domain of human behaviour. If the influences
which determined human emergence from the lower levels of animal life
might be catalogued as a working theory, they would perhaps appear in
the following order:
1. The development of the human foot upon which to establish the erect
posture.
2. The freeing of the hand in consequence of the erect posture for the
purposes of human success.
3. The expansions of sight and hearing for the better appreciation of
the world and the more effective guidance of action.
4. The development of speech.
5. The establishment of human personality and the development of higher
mental faculties. For the successful administration of these special
powers, a brain of at least human capacity was necessary.
_Brain of Piltdown Man_
When Mr. Dawson found the fossil remains of the Piltdown Dawn man he
brought to light another view of the human prehistoric brain. There
are many indications that the Piltdown men had made great strides in
their brain power. This is especially apparent in the frontal lobe.
The convolutions are prominent, especially that one upon the left side
which plainly indicates the power of speech. These early inhabitants
of England must have been more gifted than the humbler ape man. Such
at least is the evidence of the frontal lobe in which the department
of the highest mental faculties was much better developed. Similar
advances appear in the parietal regions, suggesting that the hands of
these Dawn men had acquired increased capacities as constructive agents
and sensory organs. The large expansion in the department of body and
contact senses plainly signifies great advantages gained in exploring
the world. Piltdown man must have understood the consistency, the
texture, and shape of the things he touched. The weight and mobility
of objects gave him information concerning their use. The advantages
of wood and stone for projectile and penetrating purposes, the utility
of sharp edges, the flexibility and tensile strength of various
tissues, like the bark of trees or climbing vines, all came to him
as revelations evoked by his new powers for sensing his world. These
revelations were of much service in other ways. The Dawn man could
utilize these sense impressions in directing new actions which helped
him to overcome obstacles or to gain greater security. He could now
combine stick and stone in a manner advantageous for his daily contacts
with life. There may be some question whether the earlier ape man of
Java had learned the secret of making implements for himself. With the
Dawn man of Piltdown the case is different. It seems most likely that
he had already established the industry of instrument making. Some
students of this question still hesitate to believe that the dawn flint
implements (eoliths) found in association with the Piltdown remains
were really the product of human hands. It is probable that the Dawn
man already possessed the great advantage of being right-handed. The
chipping of stone implements would make it necessary for him to hold
the flint in one hand and flake it skillfully with the other. The
departments of hearing and sight both show an expansion similar to that
in the other parts of the brain.
The Piltdown brain is superior to that of the Java ape man in all
particulars. It indicates the power of speech, the development of
right-handedness, and the establishment of higher mental faculties.
It also attests that the Dawn man had come a long distance from that
parting of the ways at which the human race separated from the great
apes.
_The Neanderthal Brain_
The time assigned to the Dawn man’s day on earth varies considerably
according to different estimates. The latest calculations place this
time at a little over a million years ago. By comparison, Piltdown
men were certainly more ancient than another race which dominated
Europe for long ages. This was the famous Neanderthal race. These early
and long extinct people migrated into Europe from the East. Their
scattered fossil remains found in many different parts tell the same
story of an unusually powerful race. In stature they were relatively
short, probably not averaging much more than five feet three inches
in height. Their arms were long and powerful, their necks thick and
extremely muscular. Their legs were heavy and slightly bent at the
knees. As a race they were distinguished by the shape of their heads
and the size of their brains. The Neanderthal had a low, retreating
forehead and a head that was peculiarly flat near the top. It seems
as if the head were especially constructed as part of an effective
fighting machine. Heavy ridges of bone surmounted the eyes much as is
the case in the gorilla. The head was set down well upon the shoulders.
The jaws were heavy, indicating that the teeth as well as other parts
of the body might be employed in combat. The nose was broad and flat
and the chin lacked prominence. All of these features must have given
the Neanderthal man a brutish appearance. The low beetling brow, the
flattened vault of the skull, the heavy jaw with receding chin, the
broad flat nose, all gave him a countenance not unlike that of the
great apes. Visualized from his fossil remains, the Neanderthal was a
savage-looking creature. He would have been a dangerous wayfarer for
the unwary to meet. He was probably so hideous in his appearance that
his presence gave offense to men of more refined sensibility. This
seems like a harsh judgment upon the Neanderthal. It is a low estimate
of him which his brain does not justify. As a matter of fact, the size
of the Neanderthal brain is somewhat greater than that of any modern
races. If size alone were the standard, such a brain would not indicate
a low degree of mental organization. But size alone is not a reliable
indicator of brain capacity. Unusually large brains are often inferior
in their brain power. It is said that the largest brain, both by weight
and measure, was that of a feeble-minded gardener at one time employed
in a large public garden in London. The volume of the Neanderthal
brain is not a convincing argument as to its efficiency. From other
indications, however, it is certain that this race had made definite
advances in human progress. They were skilled artisans and flint
workers. They had command of fire, which was employed in the upbuilding
of distinct industries. Far from being lowly, ape-like creatures, they
had many of the higher attributes of man.
The earliest discovery of these ancient people occurred in 1848 when
Lieutenant Flint found the first Neanderthal skull in an old quarry at
Gibraltar. The real meaning of this find, however, was not appreciated
until more than sixty years later.
One of the most important Neanderthal discoveries was made in the
valley of the Dordogne in southwestern France. In a cavern near the
little village of La Chapelle-aux-Saints, the abbés Bouyssonie and
Bardon (autumn, 1908) found the skeleton of a primitive man. The
body rested upon its back, with its head toward the west, its legs,
thighs, and forearms folded together. The head had been protected by
flat stones, and many skillfully worked flints of the Mousterian period
surrounded the body. There was every evidence of interment and burial
ceremony about the discovery which, it was finally decided, was the
skeleton of a middle-aged man belonging to the Neanderthal race. By
measurement it was found that the skeleton must have contained a brain
of large size, considerably larger than the average modern brain.
The brain cast of this prehistoric man gives us some clear idea of
Neanderthal brain power. In shape the brain is distinctly flat. The
arching in the region of the forehead, so prominent in modern races, is
absent. This part of the brain seems to sink inward as if the frontal
lobe had gone somewhat into eclipse, or had not yet made that decisive
expansion characteristic of later races of man. This condition,
however, corresponds exactly with the low retreating forehead of the
Neanderthal. When compared with the ape man of Java, or with the Dawn
man of Piltdown, the Neanderthal brain does, however, show expansion
in all of its major departments. The parietal, occipital, and temporal
lobes have all increased in size. This is true also of the frontal
lobe, but the ratio of expansion appears to be less here than in other
areas. It is in this department that the real flatness of the brain
is most pronounced. The convolutions in the frontal lobe fail to give
the superbrain those dominant characters which produce a high, wide
forehead in modern man. This apparent failure of the frontal lobe to
attain greater proportions must have had far-reaching influences upon
the life and destiny of these primitive Europeans.
All of the major departments of the brain show considerable expansion.
The entire brain of the Neanderthal gives evidence of progressive
development at the same time that it manifests many signs of deficiency
and incomplete realization along the higher lines of progress.
_Brain of Rhodesian Man_
Asia and Europe have produced evidence of prehistoric man. Until quite
recently Africa has been peculiarly silent in this regard. At length
even the Dark Continent has revealed signs showing that man of a
primitive type has gone a long way toward the south in his wanderings
over the earth. This important discovery was made in Rhodesia and first
publicly reported in 1921 by Mr. William L. Harris. The conditions of
this discovery were peculiar and significant. Actual remains of two
human skeletons were found at Broken Hill mine in northern Rhodesia.
Connected with this mine there was originally a natural cave about 120
feet long. This is known as the bone cave. It contained a vast number
of animal bones all impregnated with the salts of zinc and lead. At the
bottom of this cave the human remains were found. Like all of the other
bones, the human skeletons were incrusted by zinc and lead. The cave
itself seems to have been the ancient feasting place for hyenas, which
dragged thither their prey. There is some suspicion that these human
remains may have come to their last resting place in the cave of bones
in a similar manner. The cleft of the roof of the cave here is far in,
which suggests the possibility that the men or women whose bones were
found may have fallen into the cavern. Certain features of the skull,
however, have convinced eminent authorities that these individuals
belong to a very ancient prehistoric race. The face is far more brutal
than that of any other known human being, living or extinct. The
enormous eyebrow ridges resemble those of the gorilla, the nose is flat
and has that snout-like appearance suggesting a peculiarly significant
mark of the beast, known only in one other extinct member of the human
family, the Neanderthal man. Another remarkable feature of the head is
the great size of the palate and teeth. The brain case and the features
of the brain lend support to the view that this Rhodesian man was even
older and more primitive than Neanderthal man.
By all the signs of his frontal lobe the Rhodesian must have been a
humble sort of human. Nothing in this department of his brain suggests
any near approach to the attainments of modern man. The frontal lobe
bears many marks of ape-like characters. It indicates at the same
time a brain power which surpassed the limits of the great apes. It
was a brain fast carrying man upward to the broader plains of human
experience. The lot of the Rhodesian must have been precarious. He
was pitted against formidable animals of the African wilds. But,
judged by his frontal lobe, his brain had not left him destitute for
the exigencies of such competition. He doubtless possessed the power
of speech and the capacity for making human combinations. Compared
with lower mammals he had a more facile association of ideas and could
profit more effectively from experience. The evidence of his parietal,
temporal, and occipital lobes indicates definite progress in all
departments of sense perception. His brain was human though still in
the rough. Whatever position is finally assigned to this far-distant
cousin in our human family, he seems from his brain to have been a very
simple sort of human being, older perhaps and even more primitive than
any of the Neanderthal race.
_Changes in Human Race Extremely Slow_
It is impossible to give the exact dates for the appearance of the
different races of prehistoric men. At best, our ideas concerning their
antiquity must be approximate. Yet these fossils do not leave us in
doubt in one respect at least. We know and we may prove our knowledge
in many different ways that man has inhabited the globe through long
ages, whether we rate these ages as hundreds of thousands or millions
of years. Throughout these ages man has varied considerably. At first
he bore many close resemblances to lower forms of life. Slowly he
improved and manifested a progressive advance toward higher humanity.
We may be inclined to question this progressive change from one stage
to another largely because our own experience of life is limited to
such a short span of time. Within the memory of any man the changes in
his fellows seem inconsiderable. Mankind appears to have a dominating
fixity in appearance. It is only a little more than sixty generations
since the birth of Christ, and during this time the racial characters
of men have changed but little. The white man, the red man, the black
man, and the yellow man, are all much the same in the form of body, the
shape of head, the appearance of face, as they were sixty generations
ago. There is more than a striking figure of speech in the scriptural
definition that a thousand years are but as a day in the endless
expanse of time. Measured by such days as these, man has changed slowly
but surely. When we contemplate long days of this kind, each of a
thousand years, their accumulation in the existence of our race takes
on a new meaning. Estimate, for example, how far back ten days of this
time would take us. We should find ourselves in the life of the world
as it was ten thousand years ago, in that critical period when a vast
social and racial change was altering the colour and complexion of
human existence in Europe. The senile but still wonderful Cromagnon
race was then limping along to the last stage of its declining old
age and was about to disappear. The hardy and practical man of the
New Stone Age had already arrived and was fast becoming master of the
situation. The Cromagnon artist-hunter was passing the sceptre of human
control in Europe over to the hard-headed Neolithic business man.
Another fifty days (each of a thousand years) still further back and
we find again a momentous crisis. At that time the Neanderthal man was
passing. In spite of all his rugged vigour, his day on earth was done.
He had carried on existence successfully for seven or eight hundred
thousand years, but now the time of his extinction was at hand. These
seven or eight hundred thousand years would merely be seven or eight
hundred days, according to the new kind of timepiece by which we are
endeavouring to measure the duration of human progress.
_Cromagnons Replace the Neanderthals_
We may pause to seek some reason for the momentous change when the
Neanderthal appears to have bowed before the Cromagnon. The real secret
in the failure of the old race and the success of the new may be found
in the brain. It was the increased brain power of the Cromagnon which
produced the supremacy of this great race. It was this power which gave
Europe its first pioneers in art and, for all mankind, opened the doors
of creative imagination and appreciation of beauty in the world.
It would be particularly illuminating if a brain of the Cromagnon race
were available for study. These first artists occupied an exalted
position. They began their life in Europe about fifty thousand
years ago and carried on their industries for a period twenty times
longer than the duration of the Christian Era. At present there is
no Cromagnon brain cast available. We may, however, draw analogies
from certain of their human contemporaries, who lived in the middle
part of Europe during the Solutrean period. These were days when
Cromagnon art and industry were at their zenith, when the Old Stone
Age had attained its culminating stage and flourished in its fullest
development. The Solutrean contemporaries of the Cromagnons were
themselves a remarkable people. They are known as the “great mammoth
hunters of Prêdmost.” Their fossil remains have been found in Moravia.
Associated with them were the fossilized bones of nearly nine hundred
specimens of mammoths. In addition to these fossils of men and beasts
there were found many highly worked flints, including spear heads and
other stone implements, all having a pattern which belonged to the
Solutrean period. At Prêdmost, where this discovery was made, there
was a collective burial of fourteen human beings, with the remains of
six others. These great mammoth hunters must have been a large and
powerful race. Their prowess as trackers of great game was exceptional.
The character of their brain as revealed by the casts made from their
skulls places them at once on a plane higher than any of the earlier
races of man. In fact, it admits them to membership in the same race
to which we ourselves belong--that is, _Homo sapiens_. These intrepid
hunters, according to their fossil remains, closely resembled their
splendid contemporaries of western Europe, the Cromagnons. Of these
latter there is an ample record in consequence of which they will
always rank among the best representatives of the human species.
Their remarkable artistic contributions denote far more than the
executive mastery of art. They signalize that new spirit which had
been breathed into mankind, that devotion to the beautiful in life
which created an abiding enthusiasm in all of our race for its highest
ideals and loftiest purposes. From the first days of Cromagnon life
these tendencies were dominant. They were a people who delighted in the
lavish use of personal adornment. Coiffure was of particular interest
with the women and a highly developed personal achievement. Both the
men and the women seem to have been fond of using red and yellow ochre,
much as in modern times, to beautify the body. If certain Egyptian
ladies are credited with the invention of the lipstick and of rouge, it
is probable that they found their examples for such artistic practices
in these Cromagnon prototypes. Drawing, painting, and sculpture were
not the only creations of the Cromagnons in the realm of art. It seems
probable that they had invented some form of music. Their sketches of
dances and masks make it seem likely that to vocal expression they had
added certain artificial accessories in the shape of crude musical
instruments. One character in the artistic discrimination of these
artists and sculptors of the Old Stone Age is of unusual interest. It
shows a distinct partiality for portraying women of extreme corpulence.
Many of their statuettes have been discovered which, in spite of their
somewhat unsightly _embonpoint_, are called Venuses. The most famous
of these is the Venus of Willendorf. It was, however, in the carving
of animal forms that Cromagnon art attained its real heights. Many
living and extinct species of birds, mammals, and fish have thus been
immortalized. Back of all this varied artistic creation there must
have been a social organization of high order, for only a rich human
experience could provide the soil for such vivid and real beauty in art.
_The Mammoth Hunters of Prêdmost_
The brain of the great mammoth hunters of Prêdmost had a volume close
to the standards of modern men. It had lost those marks of inferiority
which stamp the brains of lower races. It had gained that refinement
of structure in the superbrain which proclaims the ascendant qualities
of humanity. The groove of Sylvius and the central groove show the
boundaries and the size of the several lobes of the brain, which
correspond closely to those of modern man. It is in the frontal lobe
that the most remarkable gains are apparent. The convolutions in this
region are prominent and well defined. That flatness so typical of
the Neanderthal brain has disappeared. These Prêdmost and Cromagnon
people were not a race of flatheads, such as were the Neanderthals.
The human forehead had become high and broad. It was no longer
ape-like and receding, but clearly indicated that the human brain had
developed sufficiently in its latest acquired and most highly organized
department to demonstrate that man at length was capable of real
humanity.
From the Java ape-man up to _Homo sapiens_ of modern times there has
been a slow but gradual increase in all of the important measurements
of the brain. There has been a gain in length, in breadth, and in
height. Much of this gain has taken place in the region of the frontal
lobe, and thus has expressed itself in expansion in the highest
department for developing brain power. The meaning of this pronounced
frontal expansion is evident in the progressive extensions of human
intelligence.
_Progress of the Human Family_
Judged by its brain power, the human family has clearly been
progressive. In this respect it differs from all other families in
the animal kingdom. In various parts of the world mankind has lagged
behind. Such is the case in the tropics, where the races of men are
still in a primitive stage. This is true also of many islands of the
sea, in the arctic regions, and in other remote and inaccessible places
of the earth. But given its full opportunity the human family has not
failed to go forward. The line of its progress may not be deemed wholly
satisfactory by the higher standards of enlightened criticism. Yet in
bending the forces of nature more and more to his will as well as to
his convenience, man has surely progressed. Where he has stood still,
where perhaps he has even fallen behind, is in the manifest lack of
control over his own nature. His curiosity has led him to inquire into
every phase and aspect of life upon the globe. But in all of these
inquiries he has given far too little thought to himself. Only within
recent years has he become deeply interested in the mechanisms of his
own behaviour. Least of all has he devoted time and thought to the
organ of his chief reliance, to the creator of his successes, to the
dictator of his future.
Since his earliest beginnings man has grown in humanity as his brain
expanded. Such a conclusion seems irresistible. If we place side by
side the brain casts of the ape man of Java, the Dawn man of Piltdown,
the Rhodesian, the Neanderthal, the Prêdmost, and the modern, we have
before us a demonstration of this progress more effective than words.
The regions in which the greatest development has occurred are
easily discerned. Marked additions have been made to the department
of sight in the occipital lobe, of hearing in the temporal lobe,
of body and contact sense in the parietal lobe. The mechanisms for
the amplification of sense perception and sense combination have
been manifoldly increased. But it is in the department of the chief
executive of life and experience that the most decisive advance has
occurred. This area of the frontal lobe, so poorly represented in man’s
nearest kin, the great manlike apes, shows exuberant growth, even in
the ape man of Java. Here its features correspond to those of modern
man in nearly every detail. Its only essential inferiority is its
relative smallness. Its special development of convolutions denotes the
acquisition of human speech and human reason.
_Progressive Development of the Human Brain_
Were we to select any single area in the superbrain as the department
supreme in mental organization, we should not neglect the claims of
the department for vision, for hearing, for body and contact sense.
Although each of these has progressively expanded, we would be much
more strongly inclined to favour that part of the superbrain which
has been active as the superlative sense combiner, which has served
to develop the fullest impressions of human existence, to accumulate
the widest ranges of experience, to direct most broadly the actions
of our behaviour. Traced through all of their intermediate stages
upward, it is these frontal regions which manifest the most conspicuous
development. The process of this long, progressive expansion in the
frontal lobe reaches back to the earliest periods of man’s existence.
It conveys an accurate impression of the manner in which the brain
has responded to the demands made upon it. The human brain may still
be considered to be in its early youth, in spite of the fact that
more than a million years of human striving lie behind it. This
great antiquity, this remarkable flexibility, have been largely
overlooked. By most of us the human brain is regarded as a finished
product. Its long, prehistoric record as we know it to-day does not
support this point of view. On the contrary, it makes it appear far
more probable that the brain of modern man is only some intermediate
stage in the ultimate development of the master organ of life. The
greatest possibilities for future progress lie in further expansion
of the frontal lobe. For this reason the brain of prehistoric man is
not merely an antiquarian relic, it is a sign from the long ages of
the past showing the road man has followed in his upward course. It
likewise conveys some suggestions concerning the future. For, if the
human brain began as a simple organ and gradually developed through
successive stages, there is reason to believe, if not to predict, that
it may develop still further.