VESTIGIAL STRUCTURES. 101 



with congenital talipes equino-varus should also retain 

 the simian type and not exceed in length the tibial 

 malleolus. Careful dissections of such limbs have shown 

 this to be the case, and in specimens of congenital 

 talipes equino-varus in children just born, and in those 

 who in spite of the deformity have attained mature age, 

 the tibial and fibular malleoli are equal in length. 



Summarizing these facts, we find that in the human 

 embryo the fibula gives evidence that primitively it was 

 nearly, if not quite, equal to the tibia in size ; that 

 during development the malleoli present, in length and 

 relation to the astragalus, conditions which are perma- 

 nent in mammals closely allied to man ; that the increased 

 length of the fibular malleolus firmly fixes the foot in the 

 standing position ; and that the thinness of the fibula 

 and its long malleolus is accompanied by the incon- 

 venience of predisposing him to the occurrence of Pott's 

 fracture. 



