MKMOlltS ()!■ TIIK NATIONAL Al^ADH.MY OK SCIENCES. 



203 



oviM- li; ju'i- cent aio tritiihi'icnlar, 18 or over ISA por ccMit have liilMTrlcs .{A, and tin- n-niainint; 

 or slightly over ;5.". \)cv immiI liavc lour tuhcrclcs well dcvolopi'd. 



From a carotul cousiilt'nition of tlic facts licrc set forth it would scfiii that the. nearest allies 

 of the ancient inhabitants of the Salado Valley, if we juil^'e froni the prevalence of dental decay, 

 art>the reruvians upon the one hand, in whom caries was almost as frecjuent, and tiie Mound 

 Buildersof the Mississippi Valley on the other, who also . suffered t« a considerable extent lioni 

 tooth-decay. Whether we are to accei>t the dental eondition deseribed as inilieatinfj allinity or 

 whether they are to be regarded as the effects of climate, food, and general habits of Iife.we 

 are not prepared to say; but it is more than jirobable that they have a certain value as expre.ss- 

 ing race atlinity. 



The fiU'ts relatinj; to the structure of the teeth themselves are important, and we are disposed 

 to attach more weight to them, so far at least as evidence of affinity is concerned, than to the 

 other two classes combined. The high percentage of the tritnbercular second molar in the 

 Alaskan Indians, 67 per cent, is significant and betokens either much commingling or a very near 

 relationship with Eskimos. In a like manner the percentage of 02 among tlie Californians is sug- 

 gestive of near atlinity with the inhabitants of Alaska. The Alcmnd IJulldcrs, Sahuh) Valley 

 people, and Pernvians on the other hand are very closely related in this respect, as is in(licate<l by 

 the percentages 40, .?!», and 3»!, while the Sioux stand considerably apart from the rest with a per- 

 centage of only IG. 



^ 27. THE HYOIl) BONE. 

 {By Jacob L. Wortmas, M. D.. AnatomLst of the Army Heilical Mnsenm.l 



The following study of the human hyoid arch has been undertaken with a view to the deter- 

 mination of the more exact value of this series of bones in mattersof anthropological research. The 

 subject has received so little attention at the hands of anatomists, especially from this particular 

 standpoint, that there is little or no literature upon it, and we are as yet in comparative igno- 

 rance regarding the conditions and characteristics of this chain of bones, even in the best anatom- 

 ically known races of mankind. 



The history of this undertaking dates from the author's connection with the Hemenway South- 

 ■western Archaeological Expedition to the valley of the Salado, Arizona, in 1887, whither he was 

 sent by the United States Army Medical Museum to obtain a full series of skeletons of the ancient 

 dwellers of this region. While engaged in the collection of tliis material it was noticed that the 

 body or middle piece of the Lyoid bone was almost always free, and that the separate pieces, of 

 which the hyoid arch is made uj), seldom united into a single bone, even in the most aged indi* 

 viduals. The hyoid, as the writer had been accustomed to see it in skeletons of whites and 

 negi-oes, consisted usually of a single U-shaped bone, especially if the individual had passed the 

 middle point of life; and upon consulting a few standard text-books on human anatomy which had 

 been taken into the field for ready reference it was found that this was regarded as thfe usual or 

 normal condition. 



The attention of Dr. Herman ten Kate, the anthropologist of the expedition, was called to 

 the subject, and together we took accurate note of the probable ages, conditions of bone disease, 

 etc., of all the individuals whose hyoids were secured. In all there were obtained some 97 speci- 



