136 



developed and the breadth of the shoulders taking up therefore 

 a proportionally great part of the length between the outstret- 

 ched hands, the arm itself must certainly be stated to be short, 

 if anything. The nether extremities short; the muscling slightly 

 developed. The chest very strong. The abdomen well propor- 

 tioned, not very prominent". 



I have made measurements of the length between the out- 

 stretched hands (measured over the back), of the stature in 

 sitting posture, of the distance from the spinal process to 

 tubera ischii and of the extent of the chest. These measure- 

 ments as well as my general notes on the circumstances 

 appertaining here, lead to the very same result, wherefore 1 shall 

 not tire with recounting of numbers. But in this connection 

 1 presume to draw the attention to a hypothesis set up by 

 Søren Hansen in : Bidrag til Vestgrønlændernes Anthropologi, 

 in the section of the proportions. 



He writes here: "Starting by the theory that a series of 

 races may develop themselves in a similar way as a series of 

 species of the animal or vegetable kingdom, there is a reason 

 to believe that this development is analogous with the deve- 

 lopment of the single individual in the way that the lowest link 

 of the series corresponds with a more childish or at least 

 juvenile degree of development and the highest one with the 

 most developed phase. Starting by the supposition that the 

 place of the Eskimaux in physical respect is in the lowest end 

 of the system we must — if the hypothesis is right — look 

 for juvenile features in their structure". After having discussed 

 the influence of the occupation on the proportions, he arrives 

 at the result that the proportions of the West-Greenlanders in 

 several particulars offer juvenile traits — ^ thus the small feet 

 and the relatively short arms. As to the nether extremities it 

 might be expected according to what has been set up that they 

 also were shorter in the Eskimaux than in all other human 

 races because they — as the upper extremities — are relatively 



