ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE OF ANTHROPOID APES. 137 



regards its presence as tlieromorphic, but not as 

 a characteristic of savage or lower races.* 



The human tibia displays in some instances a 

 compression or lateral flattening of its shaft or 

 centre-piece, so that its transverse diameter is quite 

 out of proportion to its depth. Such a tibia is 

 termed sword-bladed, or platycnemic. Bones of 

 this form have been chiefly discovered in ancient 

 deposits, as, for instance, at Gibraltar, at Perthi- 

 Chwareu, in Wiltshire, in Lozere, at Clichy, at 

 Saint-Suzanne (Sarthe), and especially at Cro- 

 Magnon (Fig. 43), Jauischwek, etc. 



A similar formation has also been observed among 

 men belonging to cultured races, both of ancient 

 and modern times. Virchow, for example, dis- 

 covered such bones in Transcaucasia (of the third 

 and fourth century of the Christian era) and at 

 Hanai-Tepe in Troas. All the large schools of 

 anatomy in Europe contain specimens of tibiae, 

 which are to some extent platycnemic. These are 

 also observed in the skeletons of primitive peoples 

 of our time, as for example in the Negritos, Kanakas, 

 and other African races. While some scientific men 

 regard these bones as the result of an unhealthy 

 condition, and the effect of rachitis, others more 

 justly ascribe them to a vigorous exercise of the 

 muscles in a one-sided direction. The idea expressed 

 by Busk and others, that the platycnemic tibiae 

 discovered in ancient sites of Europe have belonged 

 to a degraded race diffused over the whole continent, 



* Alttrojanische Grdher und Schddel. Aus der Ahhandlungen 

 der Konigl, Akademie der Wi s sens chaf ten zu Berlin, p. 47 : 1882. 



