HRDLicKA] PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS 163 



As to location^ in 13, or 38 per cent, of the total cases the calvitia 

 wasfrontal; in 12, or 35 per cent, it was on the vertex; in 2, or O.G 

 per cent, it extended over both front and vertex, while in 7, or 2 per 

 cent, there was general thinness. 



The largest proportion of cases was found among the male Cora, 

 and in all these the baldness (thinness) was general. These people 

 do not carry burdens on the head or back. What influence syphiHs 

 or other diseases may have had, i)articidarly in this tribe, could not 

 be determined. 



X. NOTES ON SOCIAL ABNORIvlALITIES 



The foregoing chapter concludes the necessarily deficient physio- 

 logical observations, and the writer will now approach the pathology 

 of the tribes. In this connection it is necessary to touch on, first of 

 all, the unpleasant subject of social abnormalities, which often have 

 a direct connection with disease, injury, or even death. 



Artificial Abortion 



Desire for and love of children are universal among the Indians. 

 Nevertheless artificial abortion is practised among all the tribes vis- 

 ited, and is told of by the older men or women without much hesi- 

 tation. The causes of the practice are shame or fear in the unmar- 

 ried, and among married women inability through poverty to provide 

 for the family, or a loss of many previous children, or a desire to 

 be rid of concomitant physical difficulties and necessary subse- 

 quent cares. The occurrence is more frequent in the unmarried, 

 notwithstanding the fact that among most of the tribes early illicit 

 sexual intercourse is not very uncommon and the additional fact that 

 the bearing of children by unmarried women brings no particular 

 discredit and is but a slight obstacle to future marriage. 



Nothing definite was learned as to the period of gestation at which 

 abortion is preferably induced ; but it seems probable that no efforts 

 are made before the fetus has betrayed viability. The means em- 

 ployed are mainl^^ some form of direct physical violence applied to 

 the abdomen; occasionally one hears of an ingestion of some ''medi- 

 cine." In most instances it appears that the prospective mother is 

 aided in the execution of her design by another woman, by a medicine- 

 man, or by the husband. There was found nowhere much fear of 

 serious bodily consequences, which suggests that these may be more 

 limited than under similar circumstances among white women. 



DETAILS 



Among the San Carlos Apache the means for mduction of abortion 

 are mainly mechanical (e. g., pressure, as over an edge of a box or 

 a rock). Some of the old people are said to know a strong medi- 



