The Neanderthal cranium stands, therefore, in capacity, very nearly on a level with the mean of the two human extremes, and very far above the pithecoid maximum.
In conclusion, I may say, that the fossil remains of Man hitherto discovered do not seem to me to take us appreciably nearer to that lower pithecoid form, by the modification of which he has, probably, become what he is.
An extensive and valuable literature has grown up in the last ten years on the Pithecanthropus and the pithecoid theory connected with it.
The chief difficulty in assigning the possessor of the Mauer jaw to a pithecoid stock has been mentioned already.
Sidenote: Origin of the Pithecoid and the Anthropoid Apes.
Even our human organism has arisen in the same natural manner, by gradual transformation, from a group of pithecoid mammals.
By this the male hand becomes more ape-like, as the long arm also is a pithecoid (ape-like) characteristic.
In the region of science they are quite inadmissible; they are doubly objectionable now that we know that only in late Tertiary times was man developed from pithecoid mammals.
The Negro race is the most striking instance of this, for it differs essentially from any other in many particulars, which are all in the direction of an approximation towards the pithecoid type.
Fraissent says, "We consider ourselves in a position to say that, having regard merely to the anatomical structure of the man of Spy, he possessed a greater number of pithecoidcharacters than any other race of mankind.
The lowest races of the present time (for instance, the pithecoid pygmies, the Veddahs of Ceylon, the Akkas of Central Africa) are very little higher than their primate ancestors in mental development.
Their life is higher than that of the pithecoid lower and middle savages, but less than that of the barbarians.
Of the skulls themselves, none were brachycephalous; on the contrary, they exhibit platyrrhine and in part decidedly pithecoid noses.
Only, the nasal index is somewhat smaller; on the whole, the nose has in its separate parts a decidedly pithecoid form.
This is decidedly a pithecoid characteristic which is always found in apes.
The upper incisors of the Malay, apart from their prognathous disposition, have occasionally a distinctly pithecoid form, their anterior surface being convex, and their lingual surface slightly concave.
Pithecanthropus erectus of Dubois is truly a Pliocene remainder of that famous group of highest Catarrhines which were the immediate pithecoid ancestors of man.
The Pithecoid Theory as an Inseparable Part of the Theory of Descent.
In my opinion, all depends upon a right understanding of this philosophical foundation of the Theory of Descent and of the pithecoid theory which is inseparable from it.
I freely acknowledge that this objection, which is at present raised by many against the pithecoid theory, is quite incomprehensible to me.
Ape-like characters, stamping it as the most pithecoid of human crania yet discovered.
The cranial capacity being, however, about seventy-five cubic inches, "so large a mass of brain as this would alone suggest that the pithecoid tendencies indicated by the skull did not extend deep into the organisation.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "pithecoid" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
