The frame is heavy, powerful, and of moderate
height (usually from two to four inches over five feet). The
thigh-bones are much more curved than in modern man. We cannot
enter here into finer anatomical details, but all the features
are consistent and indicate a stage in the evolution from ape-man
to savage man.
One point only calls for closer inquiry. Until a year or two ago
it was customary to state that in cranial capacity also--that is
to say, in the volume of brain-matter that the skull might
contain--the Neanderthal race was intermediate between the
Ape-Man and modern man. We saw above that the cranial capacity of
the highest ape is about 600 cubic centimetres, and that of the
Ape-Man (variously given as 850 and 950) is about 900. It was
then added that the capacity of the Neanderthal race was about
1200, and that of civilised man (on the average) 1600. This
seemed to be an effective and convincing indication of evolution,
but recent writers have seriously criticised it. Sir Edwin Ray
Lankester, Professor Sollas, and Dr. Keith have claimed in recent
publications that the brain of Neanderthal man was as large as,
if not larger than, that of modern man.
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