902 nEPOET— 1887. 



often his doom is deferred and veiy frequently averted. The absence of fat in the 

 dietary predisposes the town dweller to phthisis. T'le prevalanee of consumption 

 among town populations is notorious. But there is another grave malady also seen to 

 be more and more frequent among town dwellers, viz., the disease commonly spoken 

 of as ' chronic Bright's disease.' It has been said before that the town dweller 

 does not eat cakes, pastry, and pie-crusts because they give him pain. He eats fish, 

 bread, and meat. We have just considered the effects of an absence of fat iu the 

 dietary ; now we must estimate the effects of an excess of meat in it. Meat 

 ultimately escapes from the body by the kidneys. AVhen a dietary consists too 

 largely of meat sundry evil consequences follow. Gout is one, chronic Bright's 

 disease is another ; and the two are very commonly found together. In the form of 

 uric acid this excess of excrementitious matter sets up a widespread change in the 

 vascular system and the kidneys. It has been proposed to apply the term 

 ' vasorenal ' to the widespread pathological process involving numerous maladies as 

 outcomes of it. Uric acid is derived from the albuminous elements of our food, of 

 which the flesh of animals is the type. From its digestibility meat is chosen by the 

 town dweller in ignorance of the danger underlying indulgence in it. Normally 

 the bulk of nitrogenised matter is excreted as soluble urea. When the work of the 

 liver is too much for that viscus it reverts or falls back upon the primitive uric 

 acid formation. The congenitally feeble liver — part of the imperfect digestive 

 organs — of the town dweller feels the burden of a dietary rich in albuminoid 

 elements. The formation of the comparatively insoluble uric acid becomes 

 established, and with it many morbid sequences ; including chronic change in the 

 kidneys, set up by the irritation of the uric acid constantly passing through them. 

 Such changes must have gone on from the dawn of history, but they are most 

 marked amidst degenerating town populations. 



Pulmonary phthisis and Bright's disease seem Dame Nature's means of weeding" 

 out degenerating town dwellers. The offspring of urban residents are another race 

 from their cousins who remain in the country. The latter are large-limbed, stal- 

 wart, fair-haired Anglo-Danes ; while their urban cousins are smaller, slighter, darker 

 beings, of an earlier and lowlier ethnic form, and resembling the Celto-Iberian 

 race. And amidst this general reversion we can recognise a distinct liver-reversion 

 to the early primitive uric acid formation of the bird and reptile. 



A recognition of these facts must lead to such modifications of the food customs 

 of town dwellers as are indicated. The spread of teetotalism and vegetarianism 

 tells of a dark groping in the right direction ; in blind obedience to the law of self- 

 preservation. It must also lead to some modification of the existino- system of 

 education for it is by the imperfectly nourished town child that the weight of the 

 burden of education is most acutely felt. 



8. Orb ihe Bosjes Pelvis. By Professor Cleland, F.B.8. 



The unbroaden'^d brim found in certain savage tribes is a retention of a feature 

 of adolescence. This is seen well in the Bosjes, and the peculiarity may be corre- 

 lated with others which have escaped attention. There is feeble development of 

 the iliac blades, especially at the back part, probably owing to early anchylosis of 

 the epiphysis of the crest. Connected with this the post-auricular levers of the 

 ilia are very feeble, as they also are in early life in Europeans, causing shallowness 

 of the post-sacral fossa occupied by the strongest part of the multitidus spinse 

 muscle, a most important muscle for erecting the lumbar part of the column on 

 the pelvis. The action of the iliac levers in broadening the brim in the Europeaa 

 is recognised. Their shortness, and the lightness of the superincumbent weight of 

 the body, are circumstances which account for the brim failing to broaden out m 

 the Bosjes. 



