THE LUMBAR CURVE IN SOME AMERICAN RACES. 



73 



were most civilized and most fixed in their abode we find 

 the lowest lumbo-vertebral index. 



Notwithstanding the remarkable uniformity shown in 

 the above results I am ahiiost persuaded, from what I 

 have seen of the osteological characters of the Brazilian 

 and other east coast tribes of South America, that there 

 we shall find a lumbar curve which will approximate that 

 of the lowest races yet examined. 



Accepting Turner's classification of the lumbar index 

 we may make the following grouping of those tribes and 

 races which so far have been examined. 



The following conclusions can, it seems to me, be 

 drawn in regard to the Lumbar Index : ( 1 ) In any 

 individual race or tribe, it is an important means of deter- 

 mining sex ; (2) It bids fair to become one of the most 

 valuable ethnic tests known in determining the physical 

 superiority or inferiority (so-called) of any tribe or race. 



