46 ALES' HRDLIKA 



Pathological Conditions. In examining any group for purely anthro- 

 pological purposes, it is obviously desirable to avoid the inclusion of 

 any individuals who may have been affected by some pathological 

 condition sufficiently to suffer a material alteration in their measure- 

 ments. It is in this connection that practical knowledge of human 

 pathology by the observer becomes necessary. 



The disease that is responsible for most of the alterations that con- 

 stitute sufficient reason for the elimination of the subject from our 

 series, is rachitis. The evidence of this morbid process may exist in 

 more or less deformed limbs, in pitted or eroded-like teeth, deformities 

 of the thorax, ribs and pelvis, in various asymmetries, and in cranial 

 deformations due to premature occlusion of some part of the sutures. 

 Generally we find more than one of these defects in the same person. 

 Markedly bowed legs, deformed thorax, or badly deformed pelvis, 

 are sufficient reasons for excluding the subject from the examination. 



Other pathological processes the results of which will often unfit 

 the subject for anthropometric studies, are tuberculosis of the bones 

 and joints, and various forms of paralysis. The former lead to 

 deformities of the spine and of individual limbs, while the latter may 

 affect directly and indirectly the whole body. The head and face in 

 these cases may of course be unaffected and utilizable for our observa- 

 tions, but unless we can in addition get also a normal stature, it is 

 better to exclude the individual. 



In addition to the above the observer will meet with persons of 

 defective constitution due to hereditary syphilis or other causes; and 

 on the other hand he may find individuals in whom the body, the 

 head, the facial parts, or individual limbs or features, may be over- 

 grown (acromegaly, giantism), under-developed (4warfing, cretinism), 

 or seriously altered by other pathological conditions (congenital defects 

 of individual parts or limbs, gross anomalies, microcephaly, hydro- 

 cephalus, arthritic lesions, wounds and fractures). The rule in such 

 cases is, that wherever the condition or deformity is such that normal 

 measurements and observations cannot be secured, the subject is not 

 to be used for anthropological purposes. But if the deformity applies 

 merely to one limb or part, this part alone needs to be excluded. 



Cranial Deformations. Cranial deformations, of whatever origin, 

 are of especial importance to anthropometry, particularly as even 

 in cases of skulls, where they are much more easily distinguished, they 

 are known to have been included with or taken for normal 

 variations. 



