OSTEOMETRY; THE MEASUREMENT OF THE BONES 87 



humerus of Homo neandertalensis, and other extinct forms, as well as 

 from the study of this bone in other Primates, suggestions which show 

 the tendencies i.e., the lines along which the human specialization is 

 moving. Thus, contrary to expectation, the humerus in the modern 

 type is distinctly longer than in the Neandertal species, that of the 

 right humerus of the latter being but 312 mm. long, although the cranium 

 was very large. It is, however, extremely robust, although, from the 

 few fragments extant, the hand was rather small and delicate. The 

 shape of the head of the humerus is peculiar, being broader than long, 

 that is, measurement No. 7 exceeds that of No. 6, and the Index (No. 2) 

 is more than 100, a condition that does not exist in modern man, so far 

 as is known. The direction taken by the head, as shown by the angle 

 of torsion, is more towards the back than in the European race, resembling 

 that of Australians and other lower races. The value of the angle of 

 torsion in various other mammals, and in several human races, is as 

 follows:*. 



Carnivora 85. 1 



Hvlobates 68.0 



Simia 59.75 



Pan 52.0 



Australians 45 . 5 



Gorilla 39.0 



Negroes, Fuegians, Polynesians 36.0 



*Neandertal (right) 35.0 



Chinese. 33 . 13 



Neolithic French 27 . 68 



Ancient Parisians 24 . 6 



Swiss 19.0 



Modern French 16.0 



Among the characters classed as variations two have especially at- 

 tracted the attention of ethnologists; the perforation of the olecranal 

 fossa, and the supra-condyloid notch. The first is the result of unusually 

 deep coronoid and olecranal fossae, opposite each other upon the two 

 sides of the bone, immediately over the trochlea. This occurs in some 

 45% of Western Europeans, but is more common in African negroes 

 (21.7 %), and in Polynesians (34.3 %), and is still more frequent in, 

 American Indians (36.2 %). It seems to have been more common still 

 in prehistoric peoples. 



The second character is clearly a remnant of the supra-cond3^1oid 

 foramen of lower mammals, and, when well-developed, as occasionally 



* In taking the angle of torsion some authors use one of the two complementary 

 angles, and some the other. It is thus often necessary to reduce all to a common 

 form by subtracting from 180. This was done in this table, which is taken from 

 data given by BROCA, MARTIN, and DUCKWORTH. 



