This tooth, indeed, which occupies part of
the interval between the foremost incisor and foremost molar, is the
last of the permanent set of teeth to be fully developed in the
_Quadrumana_; especially in those which, in their order, rank next to
the _Bimana_. To this differential character add the breaks in the
dental series necessitated for the reception of the crowns of the huge
canines when the gorilla or chimpanzee shuts its mouth.
But the superior value of developmental over adult anatomical characters
in such questions as the present is too well known in the actual phase
of biology to need comment.
In the article on "Primeval Man," the author states that the Cave-men
"probably had lower foreheads, with high bosses like the Neanderthal
skull, and big canine teeth like the Naulette jaw."[5]
[Footnote 5: _Fortnightly Review_, September, p. 321.]
The human lower jaw so defined, from a Belgian cave, which I have
carefully examined, gives no evidence of a canine tooth of a size
indicative of one in the upper jaw necessitating such vacancy in the
lower series of teeth which the apes present. There is no such vacancy
nor any evidence of a "big canine tooth" in that cave specimen. And,
with respect to cave specimens in general, the zoological characters of
the race of men they represent must be founded on the rule, not on an
exception, to their cranial features.
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