DR DAVID HEPBURN ON THE HUMAN SKELETON. 41 
THE HUMAN SKELETON, WITH NOTES ON THE 
ERECT ATTITUDE AND ITS EVOLUTION. 
By Davin Hepsury, M.D., F.R.S.E, Lecturer on Regional 
Anatomy, University of Edinburgh. 
(Read 6th October 1898.) 
(ABSTRACT. ) 
AFTER a short summary, in which the terms exo-skeleton, 
endo-skeleton, axial, and appendicular were defined and 
explained, the author gave a synopsis of the main features 
of the human skeleton, in the course of which various com- 
parisons were instituted between the bones of man and 
those of certain of the lower animals, in order to provide 
a basis for the comparison of the attitude of man with that 
of other Vertebrata. In discussing this part of the subject 
the author said :— 
Throughout the entire group of fishes the attitude of 
their body is horizontal to the surface of the earth, As 
a consequence, their head is directed forwards, their tail 
backwards, their dorsum or back upwards, and their venter 
or belly downwards. Among all four-footed animals using 
their limbs for support and locomotion, ic, quadrupeds, the 
same horizontal attitude is found, and the limbs, like the fins 
of fishes, are arranged as an anterior and a posterior pair. 
Approximating most closely to man in structural features 
there is the group of Anthropoid Apes, whose limbs, besides 
acting as organs of support and locomotion, are still further 
modified to serve as organs of prehension, for which reason 
they are named Quadrwmana. 
As regards their attitude, while they still retain a certain 
amount of the horizontal posture as they progress on all- 
fours, yet their vertebral column is carried with a definite 
obliquity to the horizon, so that their head looks slightly 
upwards as well as forwards, their dorsum slightly back- 
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