PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 567 



one being 'the humerus of an infant (Fig. 19), in which the condition 

 was very well marked. I do not ask you to believe that these are the 

 only cases that have been observed, any more than I wish you to under- 

 stand that they are the only cases that have occurred. But what I do 

 wish you to note regarding this subject, and numerous other similar 

 conditions, is that modern text-books do not mention them as occurring 

 in the aboriginal. A vast amount of observation has never been re- 

 corded, and many records appear never to have been seen by authors. 

 The text-books, be it noted, which profess to give general statements 

 of what is known and recognised, are the reflex of the teaching of pro- 

 fessors and lecturers on the subject, and they are greatly deficient, and 

 often wrong. 



Obliquity of the Forearm in Extension. — A good many years ago I had 

 notp.d that the obliquity is sometimes very great in whites, especially 

 among women. Recently I have noticed in the male aboriginal that 

 the arm in extension may be almost perfectly straight. The significance 

 of this obliquity is altogether obscure. In speaking of the analogical 

 condition in the lower limb {The Lancet, March 11th, 1893), I said : 

 " Normal knock-knee in women is said to be due to the greater width 

 of the pelvis. Let it be granted that the pelvis is wider in women, as 

 it is granted that women possess ovaries. How does width of pelvis 

 explain knock-knee ? Does width of pelvis explain the greater degree 

 of knock-elbow in women ? " Little has been done in connection with 

 this subject. Photographs published by Klaatsch give some materials 

 for study. 



Size of the Interosseous Space. — There are few observations on this, 

 and one cannot say that there are any results. 



Femur — In connection with this bone there are many points of 

 inquiry ; but very little has been settled. The chief conditions of im- 

 portance are the curvature of the shaft, the angle which the neck forms 

 with the shaft, the amount of torsion of the shaft, the occasional presence 

 of a third trochanter, and the condition of platymeria. 



This last-mentioned modification, when occurring at the upper 

 portion of the femur, is often associated with the presence of great 

 development of the gluteal ridge forming the " third trochanter." I 

 have failed to find any reference to it in literature as occurring in the 

 Australian aboriginal ; but I have found the condition distinct and not 

 uncommon in several aboriginal skeletons from the Coorong. In one 

 skeleton the index was 70 . 9 in both femora ; in another it was 72 . 9 

 in an odd femur. It occurs in young subjects as well as in old, and 

 usually in both femora. The view that " age {i.e., maturity) appears 

 a necessary factor in the production of the character " is certainly 

 incorrect. The condition is often associated with platycnemia. 



In order to show how cautious one must be in drawing inferences, 

 I may refer to the condition of bulging of the popliteal surface of the 

 femur so very greatly marked in the Trinil femur found by Dubois in 

 Java. The left femur of an Australian aboriginal described by Hep- 

 burn showed an almost exact reproduction of this abnormality. Any 

 value that may have attached to this condition was very much dis- 



