"[1]
[Footnote 1: Grant Allen, "On Primitive Man," p. 314.]
In testing the question as between Linnaeus and Cuvier of the zoological
value of the differences between lowest man and highest ape, a
naturalist would not limit his comparison of a portion of the human
skull with the corresponding one of a female ape, but would extend it to
the young or immature gorilla, and also to the adult male; he would then
find the generic and specific characters summed up, so far, at least, as
a portion or "fragment" of the skull might show them. What is posed as
the "Neanderthal skull" is the roof of the brain-case, or "calvarium" of
the anatomist, including the pent-house overhanging the eye-holes or
"orbits." There is no other part of the fragment which can be supposed
to be meant by the "large bosses" of the above quotation. And, on this
assumption, I have to state that the super-orbital ridge in the
calvarium in question is but little more prominent than in certain human
skulls of both higher and lower races, and of both the existing and
cave-dwelling periods. It is a variable cranial character, by no means
indicative of race, but rather of sex.
Limiting the comparison to that on which the writer quoted bases his
conclusions--apparently the superficial extent of the roof plate--its
greater extent as compared with that of a gorilla equaling, probably, in
weight the entire frame of the individual from the Neanderthal cave, is
strongly significant of the superiority of size of brain in the
cave-dweller.
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