Jane by Robin Maxwell Read Free Book Online Page B

the hand drop to his side and took his seat again. This alarmed me, but there was little to be done at the moment, and with order restored, another image was projected onto the screen, this a drawing of the inside of P.e. ’s skullcap.
    “With a foot-driven, diamond-tipped dentist’s drill, I was able to remove every bit of matrix from the inner skull,” Dubois went on, unable to conceal his pride. “I discovered the Pithecanthropus erectus ’s cranial capacity to be one thousand ccs.”
    There was a general murmuring of approval from the assembled. This was an undeniable fact, even to the disbelievers. Every paleoanthropologist and zoologist in the chamber knew very well that the largest anthropoid ape skull held no more than eight hundred ccs.
    “A damn dental drill,” Father muttered. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
    “While Neanderthal skulls hold two hundred ccs more than P.e. ’s, they share the same elongated cranial shape and strong brow ridges,” Dubois added. He moved behind the podium and signaled to Mr. Shaw for the next image. It showed a photographic cast of what I assumed was P.e. ’s brain. Eugène must have poured plaster into the meticulously cleaned brain cavity. The foramen magnum, the bony hole through which the spinal cord exited the skull, was clearly visible.
    Dubois pointed at the projected photograph. “Can you see how far forward the foramen magnum is on my specimen? This position is typical of animals with upright postures. This affords me, or should I say my beautiful P.e., anatomical consistency between the skullcap and the femur—one more piece of evidence proving they came from the same animal.
    “I’d say you’ve proved that beyond a reasonable doubt,” called out Ral Conrath.
    “Hear, hear!” Archie cried.
    “I have therefore come to the inescapable conclusion that Pithecanthropus erectus is neither ape nor human. She is a transitional creature between two species—Charles Darwin’s missing link in human evolution!”
    Now there was general outrage in the hall, a roar that drowned out Dubois, who was attempting to continue.
    “Isn’t there anything you can do, Father? I know he was expecting resistance, but this is appalling behavior.”
    Archie had begun to rise from his chair when he noticed that a dapper older gentleman was already halfway to the podium, and that Eugène Dubois’s face had lit into a broad smile. Silver haired and silver bearded, the stranger was quite handsome and strode with the strength and vigor of a much younger man. Eugène Dubois put out his arms to welcome the distinguished interloper, and they shook all four hands before Dubois stepped aside and let him take the stage.
    “Who is that?” I whispered to Father.
    “That, my dear, is Professor Ernst Haeckel.”
    I was speechless. I knew the zoologist and professor of comparative anatomy at Germany’s University of Jena to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on evolution and the author of one of my most prized volumes, The History of Creation. His early drawings of embryos had been singled out for praise by Darwin himself in his Descent of Man.
    More to the point on this day was Haeckel’s very presence, as he had been the greatest personal influence on Eugène Dubois’s career. Haeckel’s theories on “ape-like men” and “man-like apes” had been the cornerstone of Dubois’s quest. His suggestion that evidence of human evolution—“the missing link”—was to be found in the Dutch East Indies directly led Dubois to explore Java.
    So nonplussed was I that my brain cleared only when Haeckel was partway through his summary of the evidence for human evolution of all life on earth. I was stunned. It was not simply that Ernst Haeckel’s arguments were clear and brilliant. But the man—bless his great heart—was publicly defending Dubois and denigrating Rudolph Virchow!
    “I believe that fossil remains of a form intermediate between ape and man do exist, and that the