Hominoid Research Articles

The Agglutinogens M and N in Anthropoid Apes

Summary and Conclusions The reactions obtained with a variety of anti-M and anti-N fluids, confirm the original observation of Landsteiner and Levine that the blood of all chimpanzees contains agglutinogens similar to but not identical with the human agglutinogens M and N. Moreover, it could be shown that M agglutinogens are also present in the blood of gibbons, orang-utans and certain species of lower monkeys. The degree of resemblance between the M agglutinogens in monkey or ape blood and human blood shows a certain degree of correlation with the position of the monkey or ape in the evolutionary scale. From the behavior of different anti-M sera in tests on monkey blood, the existence of a number of qualitatively different M agglutinins may be assumed, yet all the sera behave alike in tests on human blood. Which M agglutinins will be formed when rabbits are immunized with human M blood evidently depends upon constitutional attributes of the rabbit.

Points from Foregoing Letters

DR. R. BROOM reports the discovery of a molar tqoth having the characteristics of Australopithecus in a cave at Sterkfontein, South Africa, a few yards from the recently found skull belonging to the same species. The author gives diagrams comparing this tooth with the third right lower molar in allied anthropoid apes and in man, and submits a diagram of a possible relationship between man and the higher anthropoids.

27. The Form and Dermatoglyphs of the Hands and Feet of certain Anthropoid Apes

Summary. The general form, crease‐line, and papillary‐ridge system of the hand and foot of twelve chimpanzees are described. A new method for obtaining prints of hands and feet has been devised, with the aid of brilliantine and crude dioxide of copper. A marked age change in the crease‐line system occurs in chimpanzees. This proceeds in opposite directions in the extremities, but in both cases the resemblance to man is diminished. In the palm numerous new longitudinal crease‐lines are formed, while in the sole the secondary transverse lines disappear, notably in the ball of the big toe.

DISLOCATION OF THE LOWER END OF THE NASAL SEPTAL CARTILAGE: A TREATISE DEALING WITH DISLOCATIONS OF THE LOWER END OF THE NASAL SEPTAL CARTILAGE IN THE NEW-BORN (INJURY SUSTAINED AT BIRTH), IN INFANTS AND IN YOUNG CHILDREN AND WITH THEIR ANATOMIC REPLACEMENT BY ORTHOPEDIC PROCEDURES

In most of the vertebrates, from the serpent to the ape, the two nasal bones extend from the frontal bone to the end of the nose, forming a bony roof over the entire length of the nose (fig. 1). In most members of the ape family and in the human family the two nasal bones begin at the frontal bone and extend only from the frontal bone to the end of the nasal portions of the maxillary bones, so that in man the two Fig. 1.—Examples showing that in most vertebrates from the snake to the ape the two nasal bones extend from the frontal bone to the end of the nose (N), forming a bony roof over nearly the entire length of the nose. Often the two nasal bones extend beyond the ends of the maxillary or premaxillary bones to form beaks or bills for defense purposes. nasal

Trends in Criminological Research in Italy

WX THEN IN I87i Lombroso found in the cranium of the notorious bandit Villella an occipital depression usually found in the anthropoid apes in place of the occipital crest found in man, much that is now known as criminal anthropology and biology was born. This discovery, made over sixty years ago, dominates all of the more important efforts of the present day Italian criminologists toward the understanding of criminal behavior. The hypothesis germinated in the mind of the much-abused Lombroso is well known: the deviation noted in Villella's cranium led him to the formulation of the theory concerning the atavistic nature of crime. This theory was supplemented by the concept regarding association between criminality and insanity, both of which he believed were caused by atavism. In testing this theory Lombroso became convinced that criminality and insanity were expressions of the same thing; namely, degeneracy. He called criminality a variety of epilepsy in which irresistible and violent impulses to commit criminal acts take the place of convulsions. Thus was conceived the born criminal, the cardinal concept in the Lombrosian scheme. In the course of time, and following investigations, it became imperative to modify and broaden the concept of the born criminal. The criminal came to be regarded successively as primitive or savage in character, degenerate, morally insane, and suffering from some form of epilepsy. Lombroso's work and writings precipitated a violent conflict whose major battles were fought at the International Congress of Criminal Anthropology at Paris in i885 and at the International Congress of Criminal Anthropology at Brussells in i892. Lombroso was accused of having arrived at generalizations on meager and incomplete data, of having ignored the role of environment in human behavior, of having given too much importance to physical abnormalities, and of having attempted to draw attention to himself by proposing dramatic and fantastic theories. Later, the work of Goring

Detoxication of Phenylacetic Acid by the Chimpanzee

The chemical defense mechanism of the lower animals, including the monkey,1 with respect to phenylacetic acid results in a conjugation with glycine; that of man, however, results in the formation of the glutamine conjugate.Some time ago an opportunity was afforded me at the New York Zoological Park of ascertaining what this detoxication mechanism might be in the anthropoid ape. A young chimpanzee (“Buddy”), at that time about 2 1/2 years old and weighing about 10 kilos was placed in a metabolism cage and two 24-hour samples of urine collected. Then four 1.5 gm. portions of phenylacetic acid (mixed with bone meal) were fed to the animal at successive 12-hour intervals and the urine collected 12 hours after each feeding. He received his regular diet of milk, bananas and eggs during the whole experiment.The bulk of the urine was evaporated to dryness, the residue made acid to congo red with H2SO4, mixed with dry sand and extracted exhaustively in a Soxhlet apparatus with absolute ethyl acetate. The crystals ...

Cytological studies of the Chilomastix (protozoa, flagellata) of man and other mammals

AbstractAccounts of binary fission for two species of Chilomastix by Bélar ('21) and Boeck and Tanable ('26) differ. Consequently, investigations were initiated to study the cytology and to determine the nature of binary filssion in Chilomastix mesnili of man, Chilomastix mesnili (?) of anthropoid apes and monkeys, and Chilomastix intestinalis of guinea pigs.The material used for the study included the following: four heavily infected human cases of Chilomastix mesnili, twenty‐one infections of Chilomastix mesnili (?) from a survey of thirty‐six anthropoid apes and monkeys at the Philadelphia Zoölogical Gardens, and Chilomastix intestinalis from six guinea pigs.The results of the investigations indicate that binary fission of the above three species of Chilomastix are similar in essential details. Encystment is described for the species from man and from anthropoid apes and monkeys. No evidence for mitosis within the cysts was obtained for C. mesnili of man. In C. mesnili (?) from primates other than man, the appearance of cyst nuclei resembling mitotic processes is explained as variations occurring in nuclei. Binucleate cysts are believed to be formed by the encystment of abnormal binucleate individuals which never had undergone plasmotomy after division of the nuclei.

The Yale fossils of anthropoid apes

The Yale fossils of anthropoid apes

BACTEREMIA AND ACUTE INFECTIONS OF THE UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT

Acute infections of the upper respiratory tract are usually ushered in by the common cold. Many different organisms have been suspected to be the causative agent. The known pathogenic bacteria that are found in the nose and throat at most times are the various streptococci, pneumococci, staphylococci, certain gram-negative cocci and Pfeiffer's bacillus 1 or, as it is known today, Haemophilus influenzae. The possibility that a filtrable virus is the cause of the common cold was first suggested by Kruse 2 in 1914. He reported the experimental production of colds by means of a bacteria-free filtrate. Foster 3 obtained similar results. However, many other observers have failed to confirm Kruse's findings. Dochez and his associates 4 reported the experimental transmission of the common cold to anthropoid apes and human beings by means of a filtrable agent. Their work on chimpanzees is suggestive experimental evidence that the etiologic agent of the

Chimpanzee Twins

DR. ROBERT M. YERKES has described the first authentic recorded case of the appearance of twins in an anthropoid ape family (Science, May 11, 1934). The twins, one male the other female, were born almost a year ago at the Anthropoid Experiment Station of Yale University, at Orange Park, Florida. The parents were chimpanzees, the male about eleven years old and the female about twenty. Although among other primates, such as lemurs, gibbons, baboons and monkeys, twin births, according to Dr. Yerkes, have occasionally been recorded, the higher apes, chimpanzees, orang-outans and gorillas, have not hitherto been known to give birth to more than one young at a time.

Multiple Births in Anthropoid Apes

Multiple Births in Anthropoid Apes

X. A comparative study of the endocranial cast of Sinanthropus

We have made this attempt to describe and interpret the endocranial cast of Sinanthropus in deference to the wishes of Professor Davidson Black.* When he submitted to the Royal Society his preliminary report (Black, 1933, a ), he explained to us that he did not regard it as a disadvantage that his paper was incomplete, because it opened the way for those who had opportunities for comparing the cast with those of other human fossils and actual brains of primitive men and apes, to undertake the necessary work of comparison and interpretation, and we willingly undertake this duty. Each of us has independently studied the actual fossil skull in the Union Medical College at Peiping and examined the beautiful cast made by Professor Davidson Black from the actual fossils, and we should like to express our gratitude to him for these opportunities and many other kindnesses which he showed us. In studying the endocranial cast obtained from the Piltdown skull one of us (G.E.S.), years ago, was impressed by the extraordinary resemblance presented by the form of the brain in this extinct member of the human family to that of the primitive brain of a modern human being, a Sudanese negress (Elliot Smith, 1927, figs. 40 and 41). The other (J.L.S.) was impressed by the remarkable likeness to the endocranial cast of Sinanthropus of the brain of the Bushwoman, described in 1865 by Professor John Marshall. The recognition of these facts adds particular importance to the consideration that both the authors of this communication have served an apprenticeship to the task by examining large series of primitive brains, aboriginal Australians (J.L.S.) and Sudanese negroes (G.E.S.), and have devoted some attention to the comparison of the brains of the anthropoid apes and primitive men. In attempting to interpret the significance of the endocranial cast of Sinanthropus special attention must obviously be paid to comparison with the casts of Pithecanthropus and Eoanthropus . The comparison with the brains of the larger apes is also important, throwing light as it does upon the characters one ought to expect to find in extremely primitive human brains. In attempting to convey some real conception of the nature of the form of the brain we have resorted to the use of series of contours, figs. 10-14, so that the reader at a glance can obtain a graphic expression of the distinctive peculiarities of form. * The misfortune of his premature death deprives us of the pleasure of presenting this memoir to him.

Research Items

The Origin of Marriage. Prof. Westermarck in the Rationalist Annual, 1934, replies to the criticisms which have been directed against his theory of the earliest form of human marriage by Dr. Briffault. Prof. Westermarck in “The History of Human Marriage” expressed the opinion that marriage as a social institution developed out of a primeval habit for a man and woman, or several women, to live together, and for the man to be the guardian of the family, the woman the helpmate and the nurse of the children. The argument is based on the fact that in many species of the animal kingdom male and female remain together beyond the pairing season, the male acting as a protector of the family. To this group the anthropoid apes belong, although none of the apes are permanently gregarious. The family, consisting of parents and children, is found among the lowest savages, and we may suppose that the. factors which lead to marital and paternal relations among the apes also operated among our earliest human or half-human ancestors. Dr. Briffault, however, argues that the tendency is for the female to segregate herself and to form an isolated group with her offspring, which the male has no share in forming, and of which he is not an essential member. Fresh evidence, which has come to light since the publication of “The History of Human Marriage”, supports the view therein expressed, and shows that Dr. Briffault's denial of the facts relating to the anthropoids, upon which that argument was based, is erroneous: for example, Munnecke's statements relating to the orang utan of North Borneo, which live in families, the Duke of Mecklenburg's evidence relating to chimpanzees, showing that the old males often accompany the families, though at a distance, and Reichenow's conclusion that the gorilla lives monogamously, although it is most probable that the gorilla is also polygamous.

Brain indices of anthropoid apes

Brain indices of anthropoid apes

The Etiology of Colds

Article1 June 1932The Etiology of ColdsJOHN E. WALKER, M.D.JOHN E. WALKER, M.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-5-12-1526 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptThere is a growing conviction that colds are due to a specific filtrable virus. This conclusion is of such importance that the evidence leading up to it needs to be examined critically. The evidence in favor of the view is two-fold. First, experiments have been reported which appear to show that colds can be transmitted to humans and to chimpanzees by bacteria-free filtrates of nasopharyngeal secretion obtained from persons suffering from colds. Secondly, it is supposed that there is sufficient evidence to show that ordinary bacteria, while admitted to be pathogenic, are in no way concerned in the primary etiology...References1 DOCHEZSHIBLEYMILLS RRGSKC: Studies in the common cold. IV. Experimental transmission of the common cold to anthropoid apes and human beings by means of a filtered agent, Jr. Exper. Med., 1930, lii, 701-716. CrossrefGoogle Scholar2 LONGDOULLBOURNMCCOMB PHJAJME: The etiology of acute upper respiratory infection (common cold). Jr. Exper. Med., 1931, liii, 447-470. CrossrefGoogle Scholar3 VAUGHAN VC: Epidemiology and public health, 1922, i, C. V. Mosby Company, St. Louis, 83. Google Scholar4 DOCHEZMILLSKNEELAND ARKCY: Study of the virus of the common cold and its cultivation in tissue medium, Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. and Med., 1931, xxviii, 513-516. CrossrefGoogle Scholar5 SHIBLEYHANGARDOCHEZ GSFMAR: Studies in common cold. I. Observations of the normal bacterial flora of nose and throat and variations occurring during colds, Jr. Exper. Med., 1926, xliii, 415-431. CrossrefGoogle Scholar6 SHIBLEYMILLSDOCHEZ GSKCAR: Studies of the etiology of the common cold, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1930, xcv, 1553-1556. CrossrefGoogle Scholar7 WALKER JE: Infection of laboratory worker with Bacillus influenzae , Jr. Infect. Dis., 1928, xliii, 300-305. CrossrefGoogle Scholar8 WALKER JE: Production of colds with Micrococcus catarrhalis , Jr. Infect. Dis., 1929, xliv, 254-256. CrossrefGoogle Scholar9 SHIBLEYMILLSDOCHEZ GSKCAR: Further consideration of transmissibility of human upper respiratory infections (common cold) to the ape, Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. and Med., 1929, xxvii, 59-60. CrossrefGoogle Scholar10 WALKER JE: A cold caused by Bacillus bronchisepticus , Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1928, xci, 1108-1109. CrossrefGoogle Scholar11 PARKCOOPER WHG: Accidental inoculation of influenza bacilli on the mucous membranes of healthy persons with development of infection in at least one. Persistence of type characteristic of bacilli, Jr. Immunol., 1921, vi, 81-85. Google Scholar12 CECILSTEFFEN RLGI: Acute respiratory infection in man following inoculation with virulent Bacillus influenzae , Jr. Infect. Dis., 1921, xxviii, 201. CrossrefGoogle Scholar13 VON FENYVESSYKOPP BH: Beiträge zur Aetiologie der Influenza, Centralbl. f. Bakteriol., 1926, xcviii, 477-484. Google Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Opelika, Alabama*Received for publication, November 20, 1931. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 1 June 1932Volume 5, Issue 12Page: 1526-1531KeywordsBacteriaBacterial pathogensEtiology ePublished: 1 December 2008 Issue Published: 1 June 1932 PDF downloadLoading ...

THE ASSOCIATION OF PNEUMOCOCCI, HEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE, AND STREPTOCOCCUS HEMOLYTICUS WITH CORYZA, PHARYNGITIS, AND SINUSITIS IN MAN

Pneumococci, H. influenzae, and S. hemolyticus are known to be frequent inhabitants of the upper respiratory tract, but most workers have not recognized any definite relationships between their presence and coryza, sore throat, influenzal, and sinusitis attacks (2-5). Dochez, Shibley, and Mills, however, in their experimental studies of common cold, state that in both the spontaneous and experimentally induced "colds" in anthropoid apes, the "most significant change observed has been the increase of activity on the part of the potential pathogens habitually present in the throat flora. Coincident with the appearance of symptoms, pneumococci, S. hemolyticus, and B. pfeifferi have developed in greatly increased numbers and have spread over a wide area of the nasopharyngeal mucous membranes. These organisms became at this time conspicuous even in the nose, where they are seldom or never present under normal conditions. The same phenomena have not been observed in human beings" (6, 7). The essential facts of the present observations are that persons free of pneumococci, H. influenzae, and S. hemolyticus are in general free of coryza, sore throat, influenzal and sinus attacks; that persons who are occasional or periodic carriers of these organisms may be negative on tests over long healthy periods, but generally become positive during or following attacks and subsequently become negative again; finally, that persons who are chronic carriers show during these illnesses increasing numbers of organisms in the throat and extension of the organisms to the nose. That these organisms may be the actual incitants has been claimed by Park (8); that they are secondary invaders is the view of Shibley, Mills, and Dochez who state as a result of their experimental work on this subject that "the most important significance of viruses of this type [common cold] seems to lie in their capacity to incite activity on the part of the more dangerous pathogenic organisms that infect the upper respiratory tract" (7). The present observations bring out the intimate relationship between these pathogens and upper respiratory tract symptoms, but do not disclose the nature of this relationship. Finally, an addition has been made to the knowledge of the mode of spread of these organisms. A focus of growth and dissemination has been determined in the nasal passages and throat of individuals with chronic upper respiratory tract disease and increases in numbers of the organisms at the focus and their spread to contacts have been related to the winter season and to the occurrence of symptoms in the carrier. The observations suggest that the dosage of these organisms in a community is controlled by the resistance of the carrier and of the contacts. This view is in agreement with the facts derived from studies of native animal infections (9).

The Age of Australopithecus

THE little fossil ape skull that was found at Taungs five years ago is, in the opinion of many, the most important fossil ever discovered. It is manifestly the remains of an anthropoid ape somewhat allied to the chimpanzee, and of about the same size. But it differs from both it and the gorilla in a large number of characters, and in almost all these characters it resembles man. It thus seems highly probable that it is very near to the ape from which man sprang, and possibly a representative of the very genus. One difficulty has been our ignorance of the age of the cave deposit. The bone breccia found in most caves has proved to be of Pleistocene age, and if the Taungs cave is also of this period, then Australopithecus would be too recent to be a possible human ancestor, as man is known to have existed in the Pliocene.

News and Views

ONE of the realisations which have crept into the biological thought of the last decade is that the starting points of the main groups of animals are far more remote in time than had been supposed; and what is true for the great phyla would seem also to be true for many lesser stocks. Since the ancestral forms of present-day families of hoofed mammals had already attained the characteristic specialisations of their kind in Lower Eocene times, how much more remote must have been the critical point where the common history of the ungulates began. Struck by this and other recent discoveries in the principles of phylogeny, Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn has re-examined the story of the origin of man in the new light, and has summarised his conclusions in an address delivered at the close of the year to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, under the title, “The Discovery of Tertiary Man”. The address, which appears elsewhere in this issue of NATURE (p. 53), will be welcomed, since it clearly defines Prof. Osborn's position, and ncmst remove the misconceptions to which some of his pronouncements have given rise amongst those anxious to regard every scientific dispute as a nail driven into the coffin of man as a product of evolution He states his case in a nut-shell: “No one should misunderstand the ‘dawn man’ hypothesis I have been advocating in a series of papers and addresses since April 7, 1927. I am not ignoring the strong evidence for an Eocene arboreal stage in our ancestry; I am not ignoring the overwhelming evidence of a remote community origin between man and the anthropoid apes; I am combating the special feature of the Lamarck-Darwin hypothesis that man once passed into highly specialised arboreal adaptations attained by the Miocene apes; finally, I am inclined to separate the human stock at a geologically earlier pre-Miocene period of anthropoid evolution.”

The Discovery of Teritary Man1

THE discovery of Quaternary man was the central biological achievement of the nineteenth century. For twenty-four centuries the largely speculative idea of a natural rather than a supernatural origin of man had been slowly developing through the observations of zoologists and the dissections of comparative anatomists. From the time of Anaximander (B.C. 547), of Galen (A.D. 131), of Leibniz (1700), of Buffon (1755), of Goethe (1790), of Erasmus Darwin (1794), of Lamarck (1809), of Chambers (1844), of Leidy (1847–73) to that of Charles Darwin (1859–71) one bit of evidence after another was added from comparative anatomy, until in the sixteenth century comparative zoology contributed the strong likeness to man of the anthropoid apes—the chimpanzee and gorilla of Africa, the gibbon and orang of eastern Asia. The most significant and prophetic observations in comparative anatomy were those of Goethe in the discovery of a separate intermaxillary bone in the upper jaw of man which both he and Leidy rightly interpreted as linking man with the apes and other primates in which the upper jaw is composed of two bones. Up to 1859, the relatively new science of palaeontology had thus far contributed nothing because the female Neanderthal skull of Gibraltar in 1848 and the male Neanderthal calvarium of Germany in 1856 were misinterpreted by Virchow, Huxley, and other anatomists.

Further Consideration of Transmissibility of Human Upper Respiratory Infections (Common Cold) to the Ape

In a previous communication we have reported the suitability of the anthropoid ape as an experimental animal for the study of the upper respiratory tract infections usually grouped under the term “common cold”. We showed (1) that the upper respiratory flora of these animals during periods of normal health very closely resembles that of humans, and (2) that these animals are extremely susceptible to “colds” when exposed to humans suffering from such infections and that the clinical manifestations of these infections in the ape are more or less identical with those observed in human beings similarly affected. Further, in an effort to ascertain the possibility of communicating to anthropoids, by means of a filterable agent, upper respiratory infections comparable to the human cold, it was shown that filtered nasal washings obtained from humans suffering with typical colds when injected intranasally into apes produced typical colds in about half of the instances attempted. In all positive experiments Gram-negative anaerobes of the type described by Olitsky and Gates were cultivated. However, no etiological significance was assigned to these organisms. The importance of control experiments was recognized and early in the above investigations, plain broth and heated filtrate intranasal inoculations were carried out but were soon given up as inadequate. It was felt that it would be of more value to use for controls filtered nasal washings obtained from humans who were not suffering from colds. However, in view of the difficulty of excluding, with any degree of certainty, carriers of the active agent during the time that the transmission experiments were being performed (October to March) it was deemed advisable to postpone this phase of the study until an inter-epidemic period.