1884. | Disadvantages of the Upright Position. 5 
subject, not to mention their fierce onslaughts upon one another, 
would quickly kill off animals with superficially located arteries. 
But when man assumed the upright posture, the femoral artery, 
which was placed out of reach on the inner part of the thigh, be- 
came exposed, and were it not that this defect is nearly fully 
atoned for by his ability to protect the exposed artery in ways 
the brute could not, he too would have become extinct. Even 
as it is, this aberration is a fruitful cause of trouble and death. 
Another disadvantage which occurs in the upright position of 
man, is his greater liability to inguinal hernia. Quadrupeds have 
the main weight of abdominal viscera supported by ribs and 
styong pectoral and abdominal muscles. The weakest part of the 
latter group of muscles is in the region of Poupart’s ligament, 
above the groin. Inguinal hernia is rare in other vertebrates be- 
cause this weak part is relieved of the visceral stress, but as the 
pelvis receives the intestinal load in man, an immense number of 
tissues are manufactured to supplement this deficiency. It has 
been estimated that twenty per cent of the human family suffer 
in this way, and strangulated hernia frequently occasions death. 
If man has always been erect from creation, then we have 
nothing to hope from the future by way of an alteration of 
this defect. The same percentage of humanity will suffer to 
the end of time; but considered mechanically the so-called con- 
servative influence of nature which will tend to pile up additional 
muscular tissue in this region by reason of the increased blood 
supply te that part, aided by natural and sexual selection, will 
eventually reduce the percentage of ruptures greatly, if it does 
not eventually correct the trouble altogether. The liability to 
femoral hernia is similarly increased by the upright position. 
The peritoneal ligaments of the uterus subserve suspensorial 
functions in quadrupeds fully, which require much ingenious 
speculation to be faintly seen in man. The anterior, posterior and 
lateral ligaments are mainly concerned in preventing the gravid 
uterus from pitching too far toward the diaphragm of four-footed 
animals. The round ligaments are absolutely meaningless in the 
human female, but in lower animals serve the same purpose as 
the other ligaments. Prolapsus uteri by the erect position and 
absence of support fitted to that attitude, are thus rendered fre- 
quent, to the destruction of health and happiness of multitudes. 
As a deduction from mechanical laws, it could easily be imag- 
