THE UPRIGHT ATTITUDE OF MANKIND. 755 
of Poupart's ligament, above the groin. Inguinal hernia is rare in other Verte- 
brates because this weak part is relieved by the pressure of the viscera. In man 
the pelvis receives almost the entire load of the intestines, and hence Art is 
called in to compensate the deficiencies of Nature, and an immense number of 
trusses have to be manufactured and used It is calculated that twenty per 
cent of the human family suffer in this way. Strangulated hernia frequently 
causes death. The liability to femoral hernia is in like manner increased by the 
upright position. 
Now, if man has always been erect from his creation, — or, if that term be 
disliked, from his origin, — we have evidently nothing to hope from the future in 
the way of an amendment of this and other defects. But if we have sprung from 
a quadrupedal animal, we have by degrees adopted an upright position, to which 
we are as yet imperfectly adapted, the muscular tissues of the abdomen will 
doubtless in the lapse of ages become strengthened to meet the demand made 
upon them, so that the liability to rupture will decrease. In like manner the 
other defects above enumerated may gradually be rendered less serious. 
A most important point remains : the peritoneal ligaments of the uterus 
fully subserve suspensory functions. The anterior, posterior , and lateral liga- 
ments are mainly concerned in preventing the gravid uterus, in quadrupeds, 
from pitching too far forward towards the diaphragm. The round ligaments are 
utterly unmeaning in the human female, but in the lower animals they serve the 
same purpose as the other ligaments. Prolapsus uteri, from the erect position, 
and the absence of supports adapted to that position, is thus rendered common, 
destroying the health and happiness of multitudes. 
As a simple deduction from mechanical laws it would readily follow that 
any animal or race of men which had for the longest time maintained an erect 
position would have straighter abdomens, wider pelvic brims with contracted 
pelvic outlets, and that the weight of the spinal column would force the sacrum 
lower down. This, generally speaking, we find to be the case. In quadrupeds 
the box-shaped pelvis, which admits of easy parturition, is prevalent. Where 
the position of the animal is such as to throw the weight of the viscera into 
the pelvis, the brim necessarily widens, these weighty organs sink lower, and the 
heads of the thigh-bones acting as fulcra permit the crest of the ilium to be car- 
ried outwards, whilst the lower part of the pelvis is at the same tune contracted. 
In the innominate bones of a young child the box shape exists, whilst its 
prominent abdomen resembles that of the gorilla. The gibbon exhibits this iliac 
expansion through the sitting posture which developed his ischial callosities. 
Similarly iliac expansion occurs in the chimpanzee. The megatherium had wide 
iliacal expansions due to its semi-erect habits ; but as its weight was in great 
part supported by the huge tail, and as the femora rested in acetabula placed 
far forwards, the leverage necessary to contract the lower portion of the pelvis 
was absent. 
Prof. Weber, of Bonn, quoted in Karl Vogt's " Vorlesungen iiber den Men- 
schen," distinguishes four chief forms of the pelvis in mankind, — the oval in 
