Clinical Anatomy 00:000000 (2012)

A GLIMPSE OF OUR PAST

Phillip V. Tobias as an Anatomist{

TRKALJ1*
GORAN S

AND

NALINI PATHER2

Department of Chiropractic, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

School of Medical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

The article outlines the career of the renowned South African scientist Phillip
Vallentine Tobias. While he made substantial contributions to a number of scientific disciplines, Tobias spent most of his career teaching anatomy at his
alma mater, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and saw himself
primarily as an anatomist. The first part of this article presents Tobias major
contributions to science and demonstrates that his profound knowledge of
anatomy was the basis of many of his groundbreaking research accomplishments. The second part of the article focuses on Tobias career in anatomy and
his significant contribution to anatomy teaching and administration, particularly in establishing and organizing the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa.
The article also demonstrates how Tobias academic career was constrained by
the oppressive system of apartheid South Africa and how social engagement
was an integral part of his intellectual activities. Clin. Anat. 00:000000,
2012. V 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
C

Key words: Phillip V. Tobias; University of the Witwatersrand; South Africa;

history of science; anatomy education

INTRODUCTION
Professor Phillip Vallentine Tobias (Fig. 1) is one of
South Africas most renowned scientists. He has often been described as a Renaissance man because
of his many interests and contributions to a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In addition, he was well
versed in the arts and humanities and was politically
and socially engaged from his student years. Indeed,
it would appear that only a few contemporary scientists would qualify better for the title.
It is this versatility that makes it difficult to
describe and analyze Tobias, his scientific output and
academic profile. Above all, one wonders which field
of research or sphere of interest best defines him as
an academic and scientistwhat discipline did he
regard as his home and from which radiated all his
many accomplishments? Tobias, however, provided
the answer to this question himself. In a lecture, in
which he pondered upon his career, this famous scientist noted, although my life has been spent in the
halls of academe where I became known as cytogeneticist, physical and palaeo-anthropologist and
jack-of-all trades, let me now confess that I am basically an anatomist! (Tobias, 2004).
In the present article, a contribution to the history
of contemporary science (cf., Doel and So
derqvist,
C 2012
V

Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

2006; American Association of Anatomists, 2012),

we will first outline Tobias scientific biography and
then, in more detail, focus on his career as an anatomist. In the field of human anatomy sensu stricto,
Tobias produced comparatively little research. Most
of his contributions represent anatomy as it is
applied to other related disciplines, most prominently
various branches of physical anthropology. Indeed,
profound knowledge of anatomy enabled Tobias to
make some of the key breakthroughs in the domains
of human evolution, development, and diversity. It
would appear that Tobias most important contribu-

Three weeks after this paper was submitted for publication we

received the sad news that Phillip Tobias passed away in Johannesburg on 7 June 2012. Although he had not been well for a
while, his demise came as a real shock. We dedicate this paper to
the memory of the eminent South African scientist, humanist and
teacher, Phillip Tobias.
trkalj, Department of Chiropractic,
*Correspondence to: Goran S
Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Sydney, Australia.
E-mail: goran.strkalj@mq.edu.au
Received 17 May 2012; Accepted 15 August 2012
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).
DOI 10.1002/ca.22163

trkalj and Pather

S

Fig. 1. Phillip Vallentine Tobias. [Color figure can be

viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

tions in human anatomy are to be found in teaching,

administration, and scientific organization, and these
will be the main focus of this article.

A LIFE IN SCIENCE
Phillip Tobias was born in Durban on 14 October
1925 (for more detailed biographical accounts see
trkalj et al., 2005;
Tobias, 1991a, 2004, 2005; S
Tobias et al., 2008). In Durban (with a three-year
spell in Bloemfontein) he completed his primary and
secondary education.
At the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits), Tobias studied medicine, but like many
talented students at the time, took a break halfway
through to obtain a science degree. He had a special
interest, sparked by personal tragedy, in medical
genetics. As a boy, he witnessed the death of his sister from diabetes at the age of 21. The fact that his
mother (but not the maternal grandmother) had no
symptoms of the disease was a mystery that no one
could explain to him at the time. At Wits, Tobias
obtained his MB BCh (1950), PhD (1953) and DSc
(1967). Three years after it had been defended,
Tobias Ph.D. was published as his first book Chromosomes, Sex-cells and Evolution in a Mammal (1956).
At Wits, Tobias was strongly influenced by his two
mentors, his PhD supervisor Joseph Gillman, and
even more by the then Head of the Department of
Anatomy (now School of Anatomical Sciences), Australian born anatomist and anthropologist, Raymond
Dart. It was primarily under Darts influence that

Tobias decided to ramify his scientific interests in several diverse, yet complexly interconnected disciplines
(Wheelhouse and Smithford, 2001; Tobias, 2005;
trkalj and Tobias, 2008), includTobias et al., 2008; S
ing palaeoanthropology, neuroanatomy as well as
human variation, growth, and development.
Tobias student days were busy, both scientifically
and in terms of his political and social engagements.
As an undergraduate, Tobias led student expeditions
to Makapansgat, the valley that would later became
famous for its wealth in paleoanthropological and
archaeological remains. These early student expeditions would lead to systematic excavations of the
site that resulted in numerous important discoveries
related to southern African history and prehistory.
During his student years, Tobias was also the president of the non-racial National Union of South African Students, which strongly opposed segregated
education. Tobias opposition to South Africas apartheid regime continued throughout his life, the most
famous being his involvement in the Biko doctors
affair and the fight against apartheid in education.
Tobias was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy at Wits in 1951. In 1959, he
became a Professor and succeeded Raymond Dart as
the Head of Department. In 1993 Tobias retired and
was appointed Professor Emeritus. In addition,
Tobias was a member of the Senate and Council of
the University and held the prestigious position of
Dean of the Medical Faculty from 1980 to 1982.
Although Tobias PhD and his early career were in
the field of genetics (he established the first human
genetics counseling service in South Africa), his
research, postgraduate mentorship, and teaching
would soon spread into other fields such as human
growth and variation, skeletal biology, paleoanthropology, evolutionary theory as well as philosophy
and the history of science (Table 1). To all these disciplines, Tobias made significant contributions, which
brought him many honors including the Huxley Memorial Medal, the Balzan International Prize, Membership of the National Academy of Sciences of the
USA and the American Philosophical Society, and the
Fellowship of the Royal Society, London.
Tobias research on South African living populations began in 1952 when he joined the French Panhard Capricorn Expedition to study the San and other
ethnic groups of the Kalahari Desert. In 1956, he
founded the Kalahari Research Committee, which
organized the annual multidisciplinary scientific expeditions to the Kalahari until 1971. This research was
crowned in 1978 by the publication of a monograph
entitled The Bushmen that Tobias edited and to which
he contributed. His research on growth and development of the Southern African populations soon
included other groups such as the Tonga of Zambia.
Tobias also strongly argued that the growth and development of some of the underprivileged populations
of South Africa was impaired by the adverse socioeconomic conditions and introduced the concept of
the negative secular trend (Tobias, 1985).
Although Tobias early views on human variation
were based on racial typology, he was soon to accept
more modern approaches (Morris, 2005). In 1961,
he published a short but insightful book entitled The

Phillip V. Tobias as an anatomist

TABLE 1. Phillip Tobias: Some scientific career highlights

1950
1951
1953
1956
1959
1959
1961
1963/4
1964
1964
1966
1967
1967:
1978
1979
1985
1991
1993
1998

MB BCh (Wits)
Appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Anatomy (Wits)
PhD (Wits)
Carried out the first proper census of the San, which put the population at 50,000; Published his first
book, a classical monograph Chromosomes, Sex-cells and Evolution in a Mammal.
Appointed Head of the Department of Anatomy (Wits)
Established the first Somatotype Laboratory in southern Africa
Published The Meaning of Race in which he deconstructed racial typology and dispersed myths of racial
superiority
Together with Maurice Arnold published the anatomy textbook Mans Anatomy (an abbreviated,
new edition entitled Practical Anatomy is still used in many universities); with Arnold introduced
new methods of anatomy teaching including the Living Anatomy
Initiated a series of Anatomy Colloquia which would lead to the establishment of the Anatomical
Society of Southern Africa (ASSA)
Described a new hominin species, Homo habilis, with Louis Leakey and John Napier
Initiated the Wits University excavations at Sterkfontein
DSc (Wits)
Published a monograph on Australopithecus (Paranthropus) boisei, based on Mary Leakeys
fossil discovery in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Published, as an editor and contributor, a multidisciplinary monograph The Bushmen
Established Palaeoanthropology Research Unit (later Sterkfontein Research Unit and now part of
Wits Institute for Human Evolution)
Research on the South African populations challenged the secular trend that height in humans
increased generationally and introduced the concept of the negative secular trend
Published a monograph on Homo habilis
Retired as the Head of Department and was appointed Professor Emeritus
Together with its discoverer Ron Clarke, announced the Little Foot, the most complete
australopithecine skeleton (found in Sterkfontein)

Meaning of Race (Tobias, 1961) in which he masterfully dispersed myths of racial superiority. This book
and its second enlarged edition published 11 years
later served as main reference texts in many institutions in South Africa and abroad (Tobias, 1972a).
In 1959, Tobias established the first Somatotype
Laboratory in southern Africa and 13 years later published the first account of the somatotypes of African
populations from this part of the continent (Tobias,
1972b).
Three years earlier, in 1956, Tobias superb review
of the morphology of the controversial Kanam jaw led
Louis and Mary Leakey to invite him to describe their
find of Australopithecus (Zinjanthropus) boisei. That
was the beginning of a long-lasting and scientifically
productive friendship with the Leakey family, and
Tobias engagement in the interpretation of East African hominin fossils. In 1964 together with Louis Leakey and John Napier, Tobias identified a new hominin
species Homo habilis (Leakey et al., 1964). Tobias
later completed two classical monographs on the East
African (Olduvai Gorge) materialon Australopithecus
(Paranthropus) boisei (Tobias, 1967) and Homo
habilis (Tobias, 1991b). Both these monographs are
based on a superb knowledge of anatomy and constitute paradigmatic examples of insightful and meticulous research.
In South Africa, Tobias was in charge of excavations at well-known hominin sites such as Sterkfontein (from 1966), Taung (early 1980s), Makapansgat, and Gladysvale. As a result of these digs, more
than 600 hominin specimens have been recovered
and catalogued. The field and laboratory studies
under Tobias leadership allowed for the development of the Wits School of Anatomical Sciences into

a major world centre of paleoanthropological

research and teaching. Most of this work has been
completed through the Palaeoanthropology Research
Unit (later Sterkfontein Research Unit and now part
of Wits Institute for Human Evolution), which Tobias
established at Wits in 1979. Tobias also contributed
many theoretical insights to palaeoanthropology focusing on different subjects such as systematics,
brain evolution, and evolutionary theory.

THE ANATOMIST
When Tobias was first appointed as a staff member
in the Department of Anatomy at Wits, his main task
was to teach anatomy to medical students and those
studying allied medical disciplines (this part of the article is based on Tobias (1991a, 2004, 2005) and
trkalj et al. (2005) as well as the series of interviews
S
that the authors, together with Jane Dugard and Qian
Wang, carried out with Tobias; edited transcripts of
these interviews were published in Tobias et al.
(2008). Indeed, Tobias predecessor Raymond Dart
had built a small, provincial Anatomy Department at
Wits into a world class teaching and research institution providing instruction to medical, dental, nursing,
pharmacy, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy
students as well as several groups of science students. Teaching anatomy remained Tobias main task
for almost half a century (Fig. 2).
In order to improve the teaching of anatomy,
Tobias and his colleagues from the department compiled lecture notes outlining their own system of
anatomy dissections. These notes would later grow
into a three volume dissection manual authored by

trkalj and Pather

S

Fig. 2.

Teaching first-year medical and dental students at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Tobias and a fellow Wits anatomist/surgeon Maurice

Arnold. The manual entitled Mans Anatomy was first
published in 19631964. The three volumes covered
the anatomy of (1) thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and
perineum, (2) head and neck, including the central
nervous system, and (3) back and limbs. They were
illustrated by numerous, black and white drawings
produced by local artists Phyllis and Deirdre Samson.
The name of the book came, after considerable
deliberations, from the famous South African writer
Sarah Gertrude Millin. In the process, several
possible titles were discussed, including Millins flamboyant proposal Once twas a Man. Tobias later reminisced the events when he told Millin . . . well you
know Sarah, were dealing here with hard-headed
and often very materialistic medical students, I cant
imagine them saying Take out your Once twas a
Man . . . or Once twas a Man page 73 (Tobias et al.,
2008).
Tobias and Arnold (19631964) emphasized that
the manual had a twofold function as it was a
guide to the dissection of the human body and it
provided a systematic account of human anatomy.

The text combines regional and systematic

approaches in an ingenious way. While the chapters
focus on particular regions, each of the chapters
presents the structures in these regions according to
the systems they belong. This approach enables student to learn detailed anatomy of different regions
while, at the same time, adopting a holistic approach
to the body systems and their integration.
Following the philosophy of their mentor, Raymond Dart, Tobias and Arnold instructed the dissectors to induce minimum damage to the cadaver.
This way, the cadaver and various structures could
be preserved for a longer period of time, to be used
for further instruction and revisions. Furthermore,
the skeleton of the cadaver could be preserved and
used for research and teaching purposes. Indeed,
largely as a result of this approach, Wits has one of
the most valuable collections of human skeletons
(Dayal et al., 2009) in the world.
Mans Anatomy went into three more editions in
1967, 1977, and 1988 and several re-prints. In preparing the fourth edition of the manual a new
author, John (Jack) Allan, was introduced who was

Phillip V. Tobias as an anatomist

another prominent anatomist and surgeon from
Wits. Subsequently, and following the global changes
in anatomy education and significant reduction of
anatomy hours in medical programs, the three volume edition was condensed into a single volume
book entitled Practical Anatomy (Kieser and Allan,
1999). Indeed, in the review of the first edition of
the book (Joseph, 1966), while it was noted that
the text is accurate and the drawings easy to
learn and very useful in teaching, the large amount
of detail was called into question. The two original
authors, however, did not take part in producing the
new book and the revised manual was authored by
Allan and Jules Kieser (also from Wits).
The manual has become a classic in South Africaa
local version of Grays Anatomy. (Richardson, 2008).
It provided a meticulous and detailed presentation of
anatomical structures and superb guidance through
the complex labyrinths of the dissection of human
cadavers. Furthermore, it proved especially valuable
to students who did not speak English as their first
language as it was written in simple, yet clear language. This is undoubtedly one of the main reasons
for the manuals extensive use in South African universities in which there is a high number of students
who have a mother tongue other than English.
In his department, Tobias was not only continuously trying to improve the teaching and learning of
anatomy but also to add a variety of novel elements
to the educational process. Thus, he strived to incorporate aspects of the humanities into anatomy and
medical educationa process that has gained momentum in recent years (Vannatta and Crow, 2007;
Canby and Bush, 2010). Tobias, for instance, initiated a dedication service in his department, which
was devoted to the body donors. The service, which
has now became a tradition at Wits, is carried out at
the beginning and the end of the academic year,
with all staff and students involved in dissection
attending. As South Africa is a multicultural society,
the service is led by a different cleric each year, with
the denomination also changing each year. The ceremony aims at initiating student reflection about the
philosophical and ethical aspects of studying human
bodies through dissection and paying respect to the
donors.
Philip Tobias was also known as a meticulous academic administrator. Apart from numerous administrative duties at his alma mater, he played a key role
in establishing an anatomical society in southern
Africa. The idea of initiating such a society was born
in 1955 during his stay at Cambridge University as a
Nuffield Dominion Senior Travelling Fellow in physical
anthropology. During this visit he attended a meeting
of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland,
where he presented his first paper to that society. In
his reflections of this experience, he wrote in his journal in 1955 I foresee the day when such a society
should be brought into existence in South Africa
(personal communication, interview with the authors,
2005). His thoughts were that the departments eligible for membership to such a society would be the
anatomy departments at medical schools of which, at
that stage, there were only four (Universities of Cape
Town, Wits, Pretoria, and Stellenbosch).

In 1964 Tobias initiated a series of Anatomy Colloquia incorporating the anatomy departments in what
was then the Transvaal Province of the Republic of
South Africa. These included Pretoria, led by Professor Tobie Muller, Onderstepoort, a veterinary anatomy department with a strong emerging research
profile, led by Professor H.P.A. de Boom and Wits.
Funds to arrange a wider meeting were scarce. Academically, however, the Colloquia were very successful and a number of research papers were presented. In his opening address to the Colloquia,
Tobias confidently stated that it would not be long
before an anatomical society in South Africa became
a reality.
The news of the Colloquia soon reached the
Universities of Cape Town and Natal and at their
request, colleagues from Natal and Cape Town
were invited as visitors to the Transvaal Anatomy
Colloquia.
At the fifth meeting of the Anatomy Colloquia in
Durban, Tobias proposed the establishment of
ASSAan Anatomical Society of South Africa (that
later changed to Southern Africa). This proposal
was unanimously accepted. Professors Tobias, de
Boom and John Allan (Tobias colleague from Wits
and future collaborator on Mans Anatomy) were
requested to draft a constitution for the Society,
while de Boom took on the task of drawing an appropriate logo. The Constitution was approved at the
Inaugural Conference held in Durban in 1968. The
Anatomical Society of Southern Africa thus came into
being with Tobias as the first president, an office he
held from many years.
The colloquia and the subsequent meetings of the
society were an enormous boost to fostering
research in anatomy departments in South Africa. In
the early years, more than half of the papers presented at these meetings were from Wits, but this
soon started to change as Tobias encouraged other
departments to participate in research. Ever mindful
of the fact that there was an Anatomical Society in
West Africa and he himself being well connected with
anatomy departments in East Africa (Nairobi, Kampala in Uganda, and Dar Es Salaam), Tobias encouraged colleagues from medical schools in Angola,
Luanda, Lourenc
o Marques (now Maputo, Mozambique), Harare in Zimbabwe and others, to attend the
Society meetings.
During his office as President of the Society,
Tobias set up the Societys annual eponymous lecture, the Thompson-Stibbe Lecture, in honor of
South Africas first two professors of anatomy:
Edward Phillip Stibbe from Wits and Robert Black
Thompson from the University of Cape Town. Tobias,
who delivered the first of these lectures, devoted his
discourse to the contributions of Thompson and
Stibbe in heading the first Anatomy departments
with the rights to dissect the human body anywhere
in Africa, south of Egypt (Tobias, 1990a,b).
All this happened during the time of the international academic boycott of South Africa and although
colleagues from neighboring countries wanted to
attend the congresses, they could not accept the
Societys invitation. The boycott and its impact
played a prominent role in Tobias career. He was

trkalj and Pather

S

torn between leaving the country in protest and

staying and trying to fight the system of apartheid
from within. Notes from Tobias personal diary show
the emotional and intellectual turmoil he was going
through: Is it selfish to regard it simply as a matter
of conscience? Would I be salving my own conscience and letting the University down? Would I be
betraying the very principles I hold most dear?
(Tobias, 1991a). He decided to take the more difficult roadstay in South Africa under the regime of
apartheid and try to change the system. That meant,
however, that he would often be misunderstood,
unappreciated, and even ostracized by colleagues
from overseas.
The academic boycott of South Africa delayed the
growth of the Anatomical Society. Members of the
Society were not permitted to publish in some journals and were even refused attendance at certain
conferences. Tobias recalled one such event while
he was still president of the Society in which South
African anatomists were invited to attend an international anatomical conference in Leningrad (personal communication, interview with the authors,
2005). About 18 members led by Tobias accepted
the invitation and duly applied for travel visas to
Leningrad. Very shortly before the meeting, the
South African delegation was informed that they
were not to receive visas. Tobias, who was in Amsterdam at the time, went by train to the Consulate
of the Soviet Union at The Hague to submit an
appeal on behalf of the South African delegation
which he led. The decision was reiterated. Tobias
then produced his British passport and was granted
a visa. In protest against the boycott, loyal to his
colleagues (most of whom shared the same antiapartheid sentiment), he refused to attend the
conference.
Tobias reflected with a sense of pride (very much
like that of a father watching over his child) that with
the dawn of the democratic era in South Africa (the
first democratic elections were held in 1994), the
Society had attracted anatomists from other countries (personal communication, interview with the
authors, 2005).
In more recent years, Tobias strongly supported
the Societys bid to host a conference of the International Symposium of Morphological Sciences (ISMS).
At an AGM of the ISMS, Tobias addressed the meeting saying: . . .it is inconceivable in this day and age
that this society (ISMS) has never met in Africa. . .
We do have anatomists in Africa! (personal communication, interview with the authors, 2005). In 2001,
ASSA successfully hosted the meeting of the ISMS
and in 2009, the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists, coinciding with ASSAs 40th anniversary.
Four decades from its inception, Tobias was still
keen that the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa
should aspire to publish its own journal. He
envisaged that this would be a tremendous boost to
anatomy in South Africa and maybe an impetus for
anatomy to play an integral role in medical curricula
in South Africa. He was optimistic that the Society
would continue to actively promote the subject that
remained close to his heart!

CONCLUSIONS
Anatomy has traditionally been one of the core
foundation subjects in the education of many medical and scientific disciplines. A profound knowledge
of anatomy in many ways defined Phillip Tobias as
an academic and a scientist and enabled him to
make groundbreaking insights into many complex
issues of human evolution, development, and diversity. Tobias was well aware of his roots in anatomy
and throughout his long and productive career he
continued to contribute toward the disciplines development as an educator and administrator, often
working in adverse social and political circumstances.
He was, after all, basically an anatomist.

REFERENCES
American Association of Anatomists. 2012. Living History. URL: http://
www.anatomy.org/content/living-history [accessed April 2012].
Canby CA, Bush TA. 2010. Humanities in Gross Anatomy Project: A
novel humanistic learning tool at Des Moines University. Anat Sci
Educ 3:9496.
trkalj G, Bidmos MA, Kuykendall KL. 2009. The
Dayal MR, Kegley AD, S
history and composition of the Raymond A. Dart Collection of
Human Skeletons at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Am J Phys Anthropol 140:324335.
Doel RE, So
derqvist T. (eds.) 2006. The Historiography of Contemporary Science, Technology, and Medicine: Writing Recent Science. London: Routledge. 336 p.
Joseph J. 1966. Review of mans anatomy: A study in dissection.
J Anat 100:208.
Kieser J, Allan JC. 1999. Practical Anatomy: The Human Body Dissected. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.120 p.
Leakey LS, Tobias PV, Napier JR. 1964. A new species of the genus
Homo from Olduvai Gorge. Nature 202:79.
Morris AG. 2005. Measure by measure: the history of race and
trkalj G,
typology in South African physical anthropology. In: S
Pather N, Kramer B, editors. Voyages in Science: Essays by
South African Anatomists in Honour of Phillip V. Tobiass Eightieth Birthday. Pretoria: Content Solutions. p 121141.
Richardson R. 2008. The Making of Mr Grays Anatomy: Bodies,
Books, Fortune, Fame. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 322 p.
trkalj G, Tobias PV. 2008. Raymond Dart as a pioneering primatolS
ogist. Homo 59:271286.
trkalj G, Pather N, Kramer B. (eds.) 2005. Voyages in Science:
S
Essays by South African Anatomists in Honour of Phillip V.
Tobiass Eightieth Birthday. Pretoria: Content Solutions. 302 p.
Tobias PV. 1956. Chromosomes, Sex-cells and Evolution in a Mammal. London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co. Ltd. 420 p.
Tobias PV. 1961. The Meaning of Race. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations. 25 p.
Tobias PV. 1967. Olduvai George, Vol 2. The Cranium and Maxillary
Dentition of Australopithecus (Zinjanthropus) boisei. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. 263 p.
Tobias PV. 1972a. The Meaning of Race. 2nd Ed. Johannesburg:
South African Institute of Race Relations. 41 p.
Tobias PV. 1972b. Physique and body composition in Southern
Africa. J Hum Evol 1:339343.
Tobias PV. (ed.) 1978. The Bushmen: Sun Hunters and Herders of
Southern Africa. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau. 206 p.
Tobias PV. 1985. The negative secular trend. J Hum Evol 14: 347
356.
Tobias PV. 1990a. The role of R.B. Thomson and E.P. Stibbe brief
heralds of the science of anatomy in South Africa. Part I. R.B.
Thomson. S Afr Med J 78:330335.
Tobias PV. 1990b. The role of R.B. Thomson and E.P. Stibbe brief
heralds of the science of anatomy in South Africa. Part II. E.P.
Stibbe. S Afr Med J 78:426430.

Phillip V. Tobias as an anatomist

Tobias PV. 1991a. Memories images and visions: A valedictory
address. In: Images of Humanity: The Selected Papers of Phillip
V Tobias. Johannesburg: Ashanti. p 125.
Tobias PV. 1991b. Olduvai George, Vols 4A and 4B. The Skulls,
Endocasts and Teeth of Homo habilis. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. 921 p.
Tobias PV. 2004. At my Wits end? After sixty years at medical
school. Adler Mus Bull 30:620.
Tobias PV. 2005. Into the Past: A Memoir. Johannesburg: Picador
Africa and Wits University Press. 277 p.

Tobias PV, Arnold M. 19634. Mans Anatomy: A Study in Dissection. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. p 416, 430,
356.
trkalj G, Dugard J. 2008. Tobias in Conversation:
Tobias PV, S
Genes, Fossils and Anthropology. Johannesburg: Wits University
Press. 330 p.
Vannatta JB, Crow SM. 2007. Enhancing humanism through gross
anatomy: A pre-course intervention. Med Educ 41: 1108.
Wheelhouse F, Smithford KS. 2001. Dart: Scientist and Man of
Grit. Sydney: Transpareon Press. 361 p.