BONES OF THE HUMAN 
SKELETON. 
PELVIS. . 
Introduction. 
Anatomists have long recognised that marked sexual diflferences exist in the male and 
female pelvis, and obstetricians have carefully studied this part of the skeleton in women 
in its relations to the mechanism of parturition. Numerous measurements, more especially 
of the cavity of the pelvis, with its brim and outlet, in the principal European races, have 
been recorded by observers in their respective countries, so that the normal form, 
size, and proportions of the pelvis in these races have been satisfactorily ascertained. 
Some isolated observations on the form and dimensions of the pelvis in non-European 
races were also made at the end of the last century and the beginning of the present. 
P. Camper pointed out ^ in 1785 some differences which existed between the subpubic 
angle of a woman from Celebes and a Negro as compared with the European. Von 
Sommerring in the same year ^ published some remarks on the characters of the pelvis 
in the Negro. In 1797 M. Rollin ^ observed that the pelvis in the Indian women near 
the Baie des Fran9ais, north-west America, was characterised by its large diameters. 
In 1817 Cuvier described* the pelvis of the so-called Hottentot Venus. 
The publication by Vrolik in 1826 of an important memoir on the diversities of the 
pelvis in the different races of men gave a new impetus to the study of this branch of 
anatomy, and since that time numerous valuable memoirs on the race characters of the 
pelvis have appeared, the most important of which are named in the following list : — 
Vrolik, G., Considerations sur la Diversity des Bassins de difF&entes races humaines, 1826. Beschouwing 
van liet verscliil. der bekkens in onderscteidene volkstammen, Amsterdam, 1826. Also Mus^e 
Vrolik; Catalogue par J. L. Dusseau, Amsterdam, 1865. 
Weber, M. J., Die Lehre von den TJr- und Rassen-formen der Schadel und Becken des Menschen, Diisseldorf, 
1830 ; and previously in v. Grafe u. v. Walther's Journ. der Chirurgie, 1823. 
1 Verhandlingen der Bataafsch Genootschap te Rotterdam, Bd. i. 
2 Korperliche VerscMedenheit des Negers vom Europaer, Frankfurt und Mainz, 1785. 
2 Voyage de la P^rouse autour du Monde, public by Milet Mureau, t. iv., 1797. 
* M^moires du Museum d'Histoire naturelle, t. iii., 1817. 
