CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN SKELETON. 85 



tebrae to the back of the skull and helping to hold up the 

 head. Even in the highest apes the skull does not balance 

 on the top of the spinal column; the face part is much 

 heavier than the back, while in man the face parts are rela- 

 tively smaller and the cranium larger, so that the two 

 nearly equipoise. To keep the head erect and look things 

 straight in the face, "like a man/' is for the apes far more 

 fatiguing, and so they cannot long maintain that position. 

 The human spinal column, gradually widening from the 

 neck to the sacrum, is well fitted to sustain the weight of 

 the head, upper limbs, etc., carried by it, and its curvatures, 

 which are peculiarly human, give it considerable elasticity 

 -combined with strength. The pelvis, to the sides of which 

 the lower limbs are attached, is proportionately very broad I 

 in man, so that the balance can be more readily maintained 

 during lateral bending of the trunk. The arched instep \ 

 -and broad sole of the human foot are also very character- 1 

 istic. The majority of four-footed beasts, as horses, walk 

 on the tips of tlielr toes_ and__finers; and those animals, as 

 bears and apes, which like man place the tarsus also on 

 the ground, or in technical language are plantigrade, have 

 a much less marked arch there. The vaulted human tar- 

 sus, composed of a number of small bones, each of which 

 can glide a little over its neighbors, but none of which can ' 

 move much, is admiralty calculated to break any jar which 

 might be transmitted to the spinal column by the contact 

 of the sole with the ground at each step. A well-arched 

 instep is therefore justifiably considered a beauty ; it makes 

 progression easier, and by its springiness gives elasticity to 

 the step. In London flat-footed candidates for appoint- 

 ment as policemen are rejected, as they cannot stand the 

 fatigue of walking the daily "beat." 



