by Richard William Nelson | May 30, 2010
The name “chimpanze” was first published in The London Magazine in 1738, meaning “mockman” in Angola. While the “chimpanzee” spelling appeared in a 1758 supplement to Chambers’ Cyclopædia, the “chimp” colloquialism was coined in the 1870’s.
Before the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859, Charles Darwin gave his view of the differences between chimpanzees and humans. In a letter sent to Joseph Hooker, a close colleague, it read –
“I cannot swallow Man [being that] distinct from a Chimpanzee.”
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by Richard William Nelson | May 9, 2010
Three years before the publication of The Origin of Species, the first Neanderthal fossil was discovered in Neander Valley, Germany. However, even Darwin questioned whether Neanderthals were human ancestors. More than a decade later, in The Descent of Man (1871), Darwin addressed his issue with the Neanderthal skull size –
“Nevertheless, it must be admitted that some skulls of very high antiquity, such as the famous one of Neanderthal, are well developed and capacious.”
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The name “chimpanze” was first published in The London Magazine in 1738, meaning “mockman” in Angola. While the “chimpanzee” spelling appeared in a 1758 supplement to Chambers’ Cyclopædia, the “chimp” colloquialism was coined in the 1870’s.
