﻿PLATYCNEMIC 
  MAN 
  IN 
  NEW 
  YORK. 
  

  

  (Communicated 
  for 
  the 
  R 
  port 
  of 
  the 
  State 
  Geologist.*) 
  

  

  W. 
  H. 
  Skcerzer. 
  

  

  i. 
  Historical. 
  

  

  While 
  examining 
  remains 
  of 
  prehistoric 
  man 
  derived 
  from 
  a 
  

   cave 
  upon 
  Windmill 
  Hill, 
  Gibraltar, 
  Prof. 
  Busk 
  and 
  Dr. 
  Fal- 
  

   coner, 
  in 
  1863, 
  observed 
  a 
  peculiar 
  antero-posterior 
  flattening 
  of 
  

   the 
  tibia. 
  This 
  anomaly 
  was 
  described 
  some 
  five 
  years 
  later 
  

   before 
  the 
  International 
  Congress 
  of 
  Prehistoric 
  Archaaology, 
  

   report 
  for 
  1868, 
  page 
  161. 
  One 
  year 
  after 
  this 
  discovery 
  (May, 
  

   1864) 
  M. 
  Broca 
  independently 
  observed 
  the 
  same 
  peculiarity 
  in 
  

   tibiae 
  derived 
  from 
  dolmens 
  of 
  Chamont 
  and 
  Maintenon, 
  north- 
  

   central 
  France, 
  f 
  Caves, 
  tumuli 
  and 
  refuse 
  heaps 
  in 
  Denbigh- 
  

   shire, 
  north 
  Wales, 
  yielded 
  similar 
  bones 
  in 
  1869 
  and 
  lbTl, 
  

   along 
  with 
  a 
  femur 
  showing 
  an 
  abnormal 
  lateral 
  compression 
  a 
  

   few 
  inches 
  from 
  each 
  extremity. 
  With 
  these 
  bones 
  were 
  asso- 
  

   ciated 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  dog, 
  fox, 
  badger, 
  pig, 
  deer, 
  sheep 
  or 
  goat, 
  

   horse, 
  water-rat, 
  hare, 
  rabbit, 
  bear 
  and 
  eagle, 
  which, 
  together 
  

   with 
  a 
  polished 
  green-stone 
  axe, 
  chipped 
  flakes 
  of 
  flint 
  and 
  crude 
  

   pottery, 
  left 
  no 
  doubt 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  Neolithic 
  character 
  of 
  the 
  

   remains.^: 
  This 
  fore-and-aft 
  flattening 
  of 
  the 
  upper 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  

   tibia, 
  to 
  which 
  the 
  term 
  platycnemism 
  was 
  applied, 
  was 
  also 
  

   observed 
  in 
  a 
  fragment 
  derived 
  from 
  the 
  laterite 
  of 
  India. 
  

  

  While 
  these 
  discoveries 
  were 
  being 
  made 
  in 
  Wales, 
  Mr. 
  Henry 
  

   G-illman, 
  of 
  Detroit, 
  was 
  busy 
  exploring 
  mounds 
  along 
  the 
  

   southwestern 
  shore 
  of 
  Lake 
  Huron 
  and 
  the 
  western 
  banks 
  of 
  the 
  

   St. 
  Clair 
  and 
  Detroit 
  rivers. 
  Numerous 
  skeletons 
  were 
  unearthed 
  

   showing 
  this 
  platycnemism 
  to 
  a 
  remarkable 
  extent, 
  the 
  compres- 
  

   sion 
  of 
  the 
  femur 
  noted 
  by 
  Prof. 
  Busk 
  and 
  the 
  so 
  called 
  "per- 
  

   foration 
  of 
  the 
  humerus." 
  This 
  latter 
  abnormal 
  character 
  is 
  

  

  * 
  Read 
  before 
  the 
  Geological 
  Society 
  of 
  America 
  at 
  its 
  Brooklyn 
  meeting, 
  Aug. 
  15, 
  1894. 
  

   tMemoires 
  sur 
  les 
  ossements 
  des 
  Eyzies. 
  Paris, 
  1868. 
  Reliquiae 
  Aquitanicse, 
  p. 
  97. 
  

   % 
  Journal 
  of 
  the 
  Ethnological 
  Society 
  of 
  London. 
  New 
  series, 
  vol. 
  II, 
  1870, 
  p. 
  440. 
  Also, 
  

   Nature. 
  Vol. 
  IV, 
  1871, 
  p. 
  388. 
  

  

  108 
  

  

  