﻿868 
  Forty-seventh 
  Report 
  on 
  the 
  State 
  Museum. 
  

  

  associated 
  remains. 
  After 
  a 
  hasty 
  examination 
  of 
  the 
  skulls, 
  

   Prof. 
  F. 
  W. 
  Putnam, 
  of 
  the 
  Peabody 
  Museum, 
  was 
  inclined 
  to 
  

   refer 
  them 
  to 
  the 
  eastern 
  Indian, 
  with 
  nothing 
  to 
  indicate 
  a 
  

   burial 
  before 
  or 
  after 
  the 
  contact 
  with 
  the 
  whites. 
  

  

  6. 
  Significance 
  of 
  Characters. 
  

  

  a. 
  Platycnemism. 
  — 
  The 
  flattening 
  of 
  the 
  tibia, 
  the 
  curvature 
  of 
  

   its 
  shaft 
  and 
  head, 
  the 
  compression 
  of 
  the 
  femur 
  and 
  the 
  perfora- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  the 
  humerus 
  are 
  " 
  simian 
  characters," 
  in 
  the 
  sense 
  that 
  

   they 
  are 
  departures 
  from 
  the 
  normal 
  human 
  skeleton 
  and 
  are 
  

   normally 
  present 
  in 
  the 
  apes. 
  A 
  male 
  gorilla 
  in 
  the 
  College 
  of 
  

   Surgeons, 
  London, 
  gave 
  for 
  the 
  tibiae 
  an 
  index 
  of 
  .681, 
  a 
  female 
  

   .650 
  and 
  a 
  chimpanzee 
  .611. 
  For 
  these 
  same 
  apes 
  Prof. 
  Wyman 
  

   obtained 
  indices 
  of 
  .670. 
  Hartmann 
  found 
  this 
  character 
  very 
  

   marked 
  in 
  an 
  adult 
  orang. 
  So 
  far 
  as 
  our 
  present 
  information 
  

   goes, 
  however, 
  no 
  ape 
  has 
  ever 
  shown 
  any 
  such 
  flattening 
  as 
  

   that 
  observed 
  by 
  Gillman 
  and 
  Kuhff 
  ; 
  man, 
  as 
  remarked 
  by 
  Busk, 
  

   having 
  far 
  " 
  outsimianized 
  the 
  Siaaiaa." 
  The 
  theory 
  of 
  direct 
  

   descent 
  seems 
  unable 
  to 
  explain 
  this 
  peculiarity 
  in 
  prehistoric 
  

   man 
  unless, 
  as 
  observed 
  by 
  Romanes,* 
  we 
  assume 
  that 
  the 
  

   particular 
  ancestor 
  had 
  tibiae 
  much 
  more 
  flattened 
  than 
  any 
  

   existing 
  species 
  of 
  ape. 
  

  

  M. 
  Pruner-Bey 
  attributed 
  platycnemism 
  to 
  the 
  rickets, 
  a 
  disease 
  

   which 
  may 
  bring 
  about 
  either 
  a 
  fore-and-aft 
  or 
  a 
  transverse 
  

   flattening, 
  but 
  affecting 
  only 
  the 
  middle 
  and 
  inferior 
  portions 
  of 
  

   the 
  tibia. 
  The 
  error 
  of 
  this 
  view 
  was 
  shown 
  by 
  Broca, 
  who 
  

   maintained 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  a 
  racial 
  character, 
  due 
  to 
  a 
  feeble 
  develop- 
  

   ment 
  of 
  the 
  calf 
  of 
  the 
  leg. 
  Hovelacque 
  and 
  Herve 
  followed 
  

   Broca 
  in 
  assigning 
  its 
  cause 
  to 
  such 
  feeble 
  muscular 
  development, 
  

   relative 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  anterior 
  region 
  of 
  the 
  leg. 
  According 
  to 
  

   this 
  theory 
  the 
  relative 
  flattening 
  is 
  the 
  result 
  simply 
  of 
  a 
  trans- 
  

   verse 
  thinning 
  of 
  the 
  posterior 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  bone. 
  Topinard 
  

   apparently 
  held 
  the 
  view 
  that 
  platycnemism 
  and 
  the 
  perforation 
  

   of 
  the 
  humerus 
  were 
  each 
  racial 
  characteristics. 
  The 
  occurrence 
  

   of 
  these 
  characters 
  amongst 
  widely 
  different 
  peoples 
  at 
  once 
  

   negatives 
  such 
  an 
  hypothesis. 
  

  

  It 
  has 
  been 
  asserted 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  sex 
  characteristic, 
  but 
  it 
  is 
  

   now 
  known 
  to 
  occur 
  in 
  both 
  sexes. 
  Busk 
  suggested 
  that 
  it 
  

  

  * 
  Darwin, 
  and 
  after 
  Darwin, 
  p. 
  96. 
  

  

  