Pitheci 



52(t the evolution of the HUMAlSr FOOT. 



the weig'ht of the body, the keystone of the plantar arch. The angle 

 of divergence of the head of the astragalus is therefore but slight. 

 The uewly born and the adults of the inferior races hold in this respect 

 a position interinediate between the gorilla and the European adult. 



Average angle 



in degrees. 



lAteles 52.0 



^'^'''^'''" Icebus 40.0 



iSeiiinopithecus eutelluH 35. 



Macacus cynomolgiis 30. 



Cynocephalus 30. 



.Maoacus s yl vanus 28. 



f 1 lylobates 36. 



, ., Chimpanzee 35.0 



Anthropoids.. ,, .,„ ^ 



Orang .33. 



KTorilia 30. 



New-born F>uropeans 29. 



Negros 9 24. 



Veddahs ? - 20. 



Europeans 9 l"-8 



Besides its divergence, the head of the astragalus also shows a cer- 

 tain amount of torsion corresponding to the position of the first toe, 



Fig. b. — Astragali (anterior surface), showing the torsion of the licml: 1. Magi:t. 2, Negrito. 3, 

 European; p, trochlear surface; i, head. 



different, consequently, in the ar])oreal and the walking races; and in 

 this, too, the lower races of men hold an intermediate position. 



Calcaneuiii. — The studies of M. Volkov relating to the calcaneum 

 were particularly interesting. He first saw that the length of the cal- 

 caneum relative to that of the foot had a direct relation to the aptitude 

 for walking. It is markedl}" shorter in the climbers than in the walk- 

 ers, and among the monkey's it is those that sometimes walk, like the 

 macaques and the cyncocephali that have the longest calcaneum. As to 

 the anthropoids it increases in length from the orang, who does not walk 

 at all, to the gorilla, as follows: Orang, gibbon, chimpanzee, gorilla. 



The orang has, indeed, a calcaneum shorter than any of the monke3^s; 

 he is also, as is well known, more aboreal in his habits than perhaps 

 an}^ other of the primates. 



As to the races of man, it might have ]>een foreseen that the primi- 

 tive ones would have a calcaneum shorter than the higher ones; that 

 is, in fact, what M. Volkov has shown, and establishing for an index 

 the relation between the length of the calcaneum and that of the foot 



«It iy well known that the monkeys of the New World are more aboreal in their 

 habitH than anv others. 



