W.L.H. Duckworth to K. Pearson, 26th June 1912.- External URL
- Correspondence Details
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Sent From (Definite): Wynfrid Lawrence Henry DuckworthSent To (Definite): Karl PearsonDate: 26 Jun 1912
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Holder (Definite): University College London: Special Collections
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Sent fromWynfrid Lawrence Henry Duckworth
26 Jun 1912
Description:‘Dear Professor Pearson,
Herewith I return your list of specimens with such replies as I can give to your questions. The two orang-utans present great difficulties, and I have to assume that they belong to the “large” variety or “race”, or one of the larger varieties. You probably know that Selenka (who had had great opportunities for observing them in Borneo) distinguished several “racial” or local varieties. Apart from his assumption (& what it entails) I have but one character to guide me.
You may be interested to know that in working over some material from Crete, I find that I have two tibiae of adult individuals [note: ‘i.e. both bones are of the same side so that two skeletons are represented’] of pygmy stature. One bone is 283 mm long, the other 287. You will see that they are comparable to the Schwigersbild bones described by Kolemann[?] & used by you in your paper on the reconstruction of stature. My specimens are from a Neolithic rock-shelter but I do not think the evidence sufficient to justify the conclusion that a “pygmy race” existed in Crete, say 4000 B.C. I incline to the view that we cannot exclude the possibility that these individuals are at the lower end of the series, leading from them up to the average & so on. But with only two or three instances, one cannot make use of your tests that I am aware of. I cannot help thinking that Kollmann was hasty in proclaiming his views as to Neolithic pygmies in Central Europe. However the Cretan bones are here in evidence for what it is worth.
I am, yours sincerely,
W.L.H. Duckworth.’
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Sent toKarl Pearson
26 Jun 1912
Description:‘Dear Professor Pearson,
Herewith I return your list of specimens with such replies as I can give to your questions. The two orang-utans present great difficulties, and I have to assume that they belong to the “large” variety or “race”, or one of the larger varieties. You probably know that Selenka (who had had great opportunities for observing them in Borneo) distinguished several “racial” or local varieties. Apart from his assumption (& what it entails) I have but one character to guide me.
You may be interested to know that in working over some material from Crete, I find that I have two tibiae of adult individuals [note: ‘i.e. both bones are of the same side so that two skeletons are represented’] of pygmy stature. One bone is 283 mm long, the other 287. You will see that they are comparable to the Schwigersbild bones described by Kolemann[?] & used by you in your paper on the reconstruction of stature. My specimens are from a Neolithic rock-shelter but I do not think the evidence sufficient to justify the conclusion that a “pygmy race” existed in Crete, say 4000 B.C. I incline to the view that we cannot exclude the possibility that these individuals are at the lower end of the series, leading from them up to the average & so on. But with only two or three instances, one cannot make use of your tests that I am aware of. I cannot help thinking that Kollmann was hasty in proclaiming his views as to Neolithic pygmies in Central Europe. However the Cretan bones are here in evidence for what it is worth.
I am, yours sincerely,
W.L.H. Duckworth.’
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