AUTENREITH'S ADDKESS. 5 



pelvis in reality narrow, as in most quadrupeds ; the abdomen elevated, or 

 amalgamated as it were, with the chest, and the umbilical region very broad 

 or ample. In the infant, also, I have found the abdominal portion of the bones 

 of the ilium much less than in the adult, as compared with the dorsal portion, 

 and that the ratio of the length of the dorsal portion to the abdominal, was, 

 in the infant not quite two years old, as ten to eleven, up to fourteen ; 

 whilst in the adult the ratio was as eleven to sixteen, up to twenty-two. 

 This narrowness in the pelvis of the infant explains the greater frequency in 

 them of umbilical and inguinal hernise to crural : as, on the other hand, 

 the breadth of the pelvis in grown women renders easy of explanation their 

 greater liability to crural herniae (and to hernise of the foramen ovale !) ; and, 

 generally, why it happens that hernise most frequently appear at a time when 

 the osseous pelvis has acquired its full development, than in early years when 

 the pelvis is still narrow. To this observation there is the exception of con- 

 genital and umbilical herniae. The strength of the dorsal muscles in the 

 mammalia, seems to assist the slenderness of the glutei. The more any 

 animal is fitted for leaping, and therefore for a more rapid elevation of the 

 trunk, in it do we find a larger portion of the os ilium surpassing the os 

 sacrum towards the back, and destined for the insertion of the dorsal muscles. 

 I have measured the pelvis of fifteen mammals, in their whole length : then 

 from the summit of the crest of the os ilium, as far as the anterior extremity 

 of the tuberosity of the os ischium ; then I multiplied the length of that 

 part of the os ilium (in its longest diameter), which passes beyond the os 

 sacrum, with the breadth of the same part measured in its middle height or 

 depth, and thus discovered the proportion of these numbers. The mole, 

 unable to raise its prostrate body from the ground, has the least space for 

 the insertion of the dorsal muscles ; the bat follows it, which cannot raise 

 itself so far on its abdominal extremities as to afford space for the unfolding 

 of its pectoral limbs ; the sluggish hedgehog follows the bat ; the mouse and 

 weasel the hedgehog ; next the rat ; then the stoat ; the squirrel ; the rabbit ; 

 then the martin cats ; the genus felis (cats) followed the martin, already 

 remarkable for its leaping, and its swiftness of motion ; then the short-haired 

 dog ; next the fox : the hare already excels the swift fox, living in the open 

 air, and on this head differing most widely from its co-gener, the troglodylic 

 rabbit. It is necessary merely to caution any one about to contemplate 

 this series, that in an absolutely larger animal, the osseous surface for the 

 insertion of the muscles, must not only be absolutely, but relatively larger. 



In the skeleton of a certain cercopithecus, with a face resembling the 

 human, but with a very long tail, and measuring, from the vertex to the 

 calcaneum sixteen French inches, I found that portion of the os ilium which 

 projects beyond the level of the sacrum to be very small, although it had not, 

 properly speaking, any abdominal portion. Its place therefore in the series, 

 was between the bat and the hedgehog. 



Nor is man himself remarkable for any great strength of the dorsal muscles ; 

 whilst resting on all four limbs, he cannot raise the trunk by leaps, unless the 

 knees be first under the abdomen, as in the case of the quadruped. His 

 dorsal muscles seem rather calculated to retain the trunk in its erect position, 

 than at every step to raise again the horizontal, (that is, to raise the trunk 



