TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 



i 14 



5Ian, being naturally or artificially right-handed and left-legged, tends un- 

 consciously to bear to the right ; lower animals, on the other hand, appear nearly 

 always to circle to the left. 



Tadle shoicing Difference in the Size of the Feet. 



(A) Percentage of 150 males. 



(B) Percentage of 50 females. 



(C) Percentage of 200 mixed cases. 



G. The Occasional Eighth True Bib in Man, and its possible relationship to 

 Right-handedness.^ By Professor D. J. Cunningham, M.D. 



Professor Cunningham referred to the occasional presence of an eighth true rib 

 in man, and gave statistics upon this point, which had been obtained for him by 

 his assistant, Mr. O. L. Robinson. In seventy subjects examined the anomaly 

 occurred fourteen times — i.e., in 20 per cent. It was found twice in the male for 

 every once in the female. Five cases were bilateral ; nine cases were unilateral, 

 and of these no less than eight exhibited the anomaly on the right side. From 

 this Professor Cunningham considered that it was just possible that the anomaly 

 might have some connection with right-handedness. 



7. The Fro'portion of Bone and Cartilage in the Lumbar Section of the 

 Vertebral Column in the Ape and different races of Men. ^ By Professor 

 D. J. Cunningham, M.D. 



With the assumption of the erect attitude the bodies of the lumbar vertebra> 

 and the intervertebral discs in the human spine have become much modified. In 

 the majority of the quadrupeds the bodies of the lumbar vertebrtc are long, narrow, 

 and rod-like ; in man they are short, broad, and disc-like. The change from the 

 one form to the other is not sharp and sudden, but can be traced as a gradual 

 process through the apes up to man. Sexual differences, racial ditlerences, and 

 age differences in the relative length of the bodies of the lumbar vertebra) are also 

 apparent. The amount of cartilage stands in inverse ratio to the amount of bone. 

 Where the vertebraj are relatively long, the cartilage is small in amount ; where 

 the bones are relatively siiort, the cartilage is more abundant. This clearly is a 

 provision for the deadening of shocks transmitted in an upward direction through 

 the erect spine of man and the semi-erect spines of certain of the apes. 



8. 



Exhibition of the Model of the Head of a Man stated to he 106 years 

 old, with the Brain exposed in situ. Bii Professor D. J. Cunningham. 

 M.D. -^ 



Printed in full in the Journal of Anatomy and Phytivlogy for October, 1889. 



