GROWTH OF THE SKELETON 



275 



hind feet. This result suggests that the percentage of water in 

 the organic matter also diminishes with age, thus supplementing 

 the effect produced on the water content of the bone as a whole 

 by the deposition of salts in it. Moreover, as we know, the 

 salts carry with them some water, which they lose at 96°C. — a 

 fact which strengthens the foregoing argument. However, so 

 long as the exact percentage of salts is unknown, this conclusion 

 is merely suggestive. 



On the percentage value of the loss in weight on passing from the 

 room-dried to the oven-dried condition 



Although the determination of the room-dried as well as the 

 oven-dried weights has been made for all of the parts of the 

 skeleton, it has been deemed necessary to print the room-dried 

 values in only a few cases, as in tables 3 and 11. 



A study of the full manuscript tables has, however, brought 

 out the fact that at all ages and in all parts of the skeleton there 

 is a nearly constant loss in water on passing from the room-dried 

 to the oven-dried condition. The data are given in table 19. 



These results in table 19 are of interest. 



TABLE 19 



The percentage in weight lost by room-dried bones after oven drying at 96°C. Based 



on the averages of the percentages as determined for each of the forty-two groups 



AVERAGE 



FOR ALL 



BODY 



WEIGHTS 



per cent 



8.34 

 8.37 

 8.28 



8.58 



8.35 

 8.87 

 8.10 

 8.11 

 8.11 

 8.00 



Entire skeleton 



Axial skeleton 



Appendicular skeleton. . . 

 Shoulder girdle and fore 



limbs 



Pelvic girdle and hind 



limbs 



Cranium with teeth 



Humerus (2) 



Ulna and radius (2) 



Femur (2) 



Tibia and fibula (2) 



