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London, and Berlin. in December of 1895, experts from around the world gathered at the Berlin Society for Anthropology, ethnology, and prehistory to pass judgement on Dubois’s Pithecanthropus specimens. the president of the Society, dr. Virchow, refused to chair the meeting. in the controversy-ridden discussion that followed, the Swiss anatomist Kollman said the creature was an ape. Virchow himself said that the femur was human, and further stated: “the skull has a deep suture between the low vault and the upper edge of the orbits. Such a suture is found only in apes, not in man. thus the skull must belong to an ape. in my opinion this creature was an animal, a giant gibbon, in fact. the thigh-bone has not the slightest connection with the skull” (Wendt 1972, pp. 167–168). this opinion contrasted strikingly with that of Haeckel and others, who remained convinced that Dubois’s Java man was a genuine human ancestor.

As Dubois traveled from city to city, carrying his Pithecanthropus fossils with him, controversy continued. Some were suspicious because the discoveries had been made in Java without any opportunity for confirmation by other scientists on the scene. nevertheless, Dubois repeatedly defended his ape-man interpretation of the fossils. For example, when Sir Arthur Keith of Britain maintained that Pithecanthropus erectus was actually just a somewhat primitive human, Dubois personally brought his fossils for Keith to examine, but even after seeing them Keith maintained his dissent (Goodman 1982, p. 60).

Dubois carried his bones around with him on his paleontological pilgrimage in a battered suitcase. Once, in Paris, he went to show the bones to Leone Pierre Manouvrier, a noted French anthropologist. in Manouvrier’s laboratory, the two talked till midnight and then went to a restaurant. Upon leaving, dubois realized that he had forgotten his suitcase. Rushing back to the restaurant, Dubois asked desperately, “Where is Pithecanthropus!” it turned out that a waiter had the suitcase. dubois hurriedly opened it, assuring himself that the fossils were still inside. Manouvrier suggested dubois sleep that night with the bones under his pillow (time-Life 1973, p. 45).

dubois and Manouvrier attempted a reconstruction of the whole Java man skull, including the facial region, for which no bones were actually discovered. it is apparent that the entire jaw and facial structure were simply imagined (Boule

1923, p. 105). Some authorities thought dubois and Manouvrier had reconstructed the skull improperly, making the cranial curve appear too low. A reconstruction that featured a higher skull profile made Pithecanthropus appear much more human (von Koenigswald 1956). Another imaginative reconstruction of the Java man skull was attempted by J. H. W. McGregor (Osborn 1916, p. 79). About a full-scale statue of Java man, Boule (1923, p. 105) stated: “dubois ventured still further in the realm of imagination when he exhibited at the international exhibition of 1900, in the dutch indies pavilion, a painted model of Pithecanthropus as he appeared in life.”

in light of the incompleteness of the Java man skeletal remains and the doubtful circumstances of their discovery, it is amazing numerous scientists accepted the hypothetical Pithecanthropus erectus and wrote so many books about him.

7.1.5 The Selenka Expedition

To resolve some of the questions surrounding the Pithecanthropus fossils and their discovery, Emil Selenka, professor of zoology at Munich University in Germany, prepared a full-fledged expedition to Java, but he died before it departed. His wife, professor Lenore Selenka, took over the effort and conducted excavations at trinil in the years 1907–1908, employing 75 laborers to hunt for more Pithecanthropus erectus fossils. Altogether, Selenka’s team of geologists and paleontologists sent back to europe 43 boxes of fossils, but they included not a single new fragment of Pithecanthropus. Sir Arthur Keith (1911) reviewed the results of the Selenka expedition in the journal Nature and reported that the geological stratification