80 LABORATORY MANUAL OF ANTHROPOMETRY 



Very little has as yet been done with the anthropometry of the ribs and 

 sternum. The curvature of the ribs, connected as it is with the capacity 

 of the chest and the relative lung capacity, is in part an individual char- 

 acter, but is undoubtedly in part also racial. This character has been 

 studied thus far mainly in the living by means of thoracic measurements. 

 A comparison of the ribs and sternum of such prehistoric human species 

 as Homo neandertalensis, with the same parts of modern man should 

 show us along what lines to look for racial differences in the bones them- 

 selves, and in this connection it is interesting to note that the ribs of 

 this early species were less rounded in curvature than in modern man, 

 indicating a cylindrical, rather than a flat, chest. This man was rather 

 short in stature (1550-1650 mm.), with an enormously large head set 

 well forward upon a short, massive neck. The thorax was cylindrical 

 and very capacious, and the intercostal muscles were extremely well- 

 developed. The ribs were themselves rather cylindrical than flat, giving 

 a distinct triangular cross-section.* 



III. SHOULDER-GIRDLE 

 Scapula 



I. LINEAR MEASUREMENTS 



1. Maximum length (morphologically the breadth f) [CD]; the distance 

 between the most projecting points of the anterior (superior) and poste- 

 rior (inferior) angles. 



2. Maximum breadth (morphologically the lengthf) [BK]; from the 

 middle of the lower border of the articular surface of the glenoid fossa to 

 the terminus of the spinal axis [No. 3] upon the vertebral border. 



3. Spinal axis [BA]; from the center of the glenoid fossa to the point 

 where the prolonged lower edge of the spine intersects the vertebral 

 border. 



4. Length of the spine [BE]; from the last described point [B], to the 

 most distant point upon the acromion process. 



5. Length of the supraspinous line [BC]; from the point [B] to the 

 anterior angle. 



*Boule: L'homme fossile de la Chapelleaux-Saints; Annales de Paleontologie, T. 

 VI, 1911; pp. 113-115. 



Schwalbe, G. : Kritische Besprechung von Boulc's Werk; L'homme fossile, etc., 

 mit eigenen Untersuchungen. Zeitschr. fur Morphol. und Anthropol., Bd. XVI, 

 1914; p. 565+. 



t The scapula of man, and to a lesser degree that of the other Primates, is spread 

 out antero-posteriorly far in excess of that of most other mammals, mainly because 

 of the excessive lengthening in this direction of the infra-spinous portion of the blade. 

 If comparison be made with other scapulae, e.g., cat, horse, rat, which show the more 

 usual shape it is at once apparent that the length runs in the same direction as the 

 spine, and the breadth at right angles to it, across both fossa?. 



