440 



THE HUMAN SPECIES 



the course of labour is, in the vast majority of cases, a much 

 easier one, as rachitic, or otherwise contracted pelves are all 

 but unknown. Especially favourable conditions obtain among 

 most races of Australasia and Oceania, and the savage peoples 

 of Asia, Africa and America. H. Fritsch makes the following" 

 weighty pronouncement on this matter : " It is obvious that un- 

 communicative savages can always evade troublesome questions 

 by saying that no assistance is ever needful during parturition. 

 Some experience is necessary in order to test the truth of this 

 statement, as any inspection or examination during the act 

 would be entirely impossible. To understand, however, why 

 severe labours are so infrequent among such races, one must 

 remember that very contracted, or absolutely too contracted 



pelves hardly ever 

 exist. On the one 

 hand, bone diseases 

 (rhachitis) leading 

 to pelvic deformity 

 are unknown, and 

 on the other hand, 

 badly built indi- 

 viduals perish 

 through insufficient 



nourishment. In the 

 FIG. 214. Osteomalacic pelvis. (Spath.) cage Q f a cr jppl ec { 



individual, it must not be forgotten that generally a woman is 

 a chattel, and a bad chattel is unlikely to find a bidder at most 

 auctions, especially as women are mainly married in order to 

 .be used as labourers. There is also considerable evidence (e.g., 

 Wernich's measurements and weights) showing that the children 

 are remarkably small, have but slightly developed occiputs, very 

 round heads and very soft bones. From all this it may be 

 gathered that difficult labour is a rarity." 



If we compare what is taught in our own midwifery text- 

 books as to the influence of the pelvis in prolonging labour with 

 this favourable account, we find a whole list of pelvic deformities, 

 partly congenital and partly acquired later in life. There is the 

 generally contracted pelvis of dwarfs, and the common shorten- 

 ing of the conjugate diameter caused by a too protruding sacral 



