Abstract
THE results of the experiment carried out and described by Dr. Ashley Montagu are certainly most interesting; but they cannot be considered as providing a possible explanation of the unusual thickness of the Piltdown cranial bones, for two reasons: (1) Chemical analyses have confirmed that the Piltdown cranial bones are slightly mineralized (for example, they contain 0.1 per cent adsorbed fluorine); indeed the conclusion that they are sub-fossil has recently been confirmed by radiocarbon dating1. Sub-fossil bones which have lost a considerable proportion of their collagen matrix obviously will not be expanded appreciably by any chemical treatment—or at least not to an extent anywhere nearly comparable with that occurring in the case of a dissecting-room specimen with full collagen content. (2) The striking uniformity and small size of the diploic spaces in the Piltdown cranial bones are incompatible with any artificial expansion.
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