106 K. J: ANDERSOW [aveusr 
tooth of the narwhal emphasizes the condition. This asymmetry is 
not easy to explain. Is it due to the dolphin opposing one side by 
preference to an ocean current, so that he grows gradually one-sided, 
like a sensitive politician? or does he get altered by attempting to 
present a too bulky broadside to an opposing foe for the purpose of 
increasing his self-importance, or to reassure himself? May the change 
have been brought about as the result of deep nervous impressions 
received from without? This creature lives near the surface a good 
deal, and sees much that is one sided among the phenomena of aerial 
nature. The contemplative disposition may allow the reflex nerve 
actions too much range. 
The well-known cases of asymmetry in man may be mentioned— 
the left aorta and heart, right sided liver, left stomach and spleen, 
large right lung, the lateral spinal curve. The viscera may be 
transposed in position. Asymmetry is found sometimes in the muscles 
of man. The chest region may display asymmetry, the sternum or 
ribs may be more prominent at one side. The pelvis also shows 
occasionally some features of asymmetry. The skull, in the size and 
thickness of the cranial bones, is subject to some variations. The 
bones on one side are sometimes thicker than those on the other 
side, as has been shown by the writer elsewhere; the sinuses of one 
side are sometimes larger than those of the other. The septum of the 
nose is often bent to one side. Bilateral symmetry in man seems to 
be the rule. Humphry laid much stress upon this fact, but he takes 
occasion to refer to the specimen of a skeleton of a boy in the Bonn 
Museum, in which the bones of the right arm and leg are longer than 
those of the left side. The disproportion was marked by nodules in 
the leg bones, but not in the arm bones. These nodules indicate the 
former presence of inflammatory action in the right lower extremity. 
The right humerus is 9 lines and the ulna 10 lines longer than those of 
the left side. The right femur is 11 lines, and the right tibia 2 inches 
longer than the left ones. 
The nervous system has considerable influence over distant parts 
within certain limits. Asymmetry is thought by some to afford some 
indications of permanent central nervous change. Abundant statistics 
are necessary in order to come to any satisfactory conclusion. Lombroso 
found in one class (Class A) of offenders 26 per cent of cranial 
asymmetry ; in Class B, 46 per cent; Class C, 32 per cent; Class D, 50 
per cent. Asymmetric faces were found in 7-7 per cent of delinquents 
and in 1°8 per cent of another class. Criminals have the advantage (?) 
of others in possessing a larger percentage of wry noses (not due, 
presumably, to mechanical causes). Asymmetric faces are commoner 
in classes B and D than in other types. It is also stated that 
anomalies are more common in man, especially savage man, than in 
woman, and more common amongst males of other vertebrates than 
in females (Viazzi quoted by Lombroso). It will be remembered, 
