REPORT ON THE BONES OF THE HUMAN SKELETON. 
103 
An examination of this Table will show that although there is sometimes a compen- 
sation for the greater length of the femur of one side in an increased length of the tibia 
on the opposite, yet that not unfrequently the femur and tibia of the one limb are both 
longer than the corresponding bones in the opposite limb, so that the shaft of the one 
limb is appreciably longer than the shaft of the other. In seven skeletons the bones 
of the shaft of the right limb were longer than the left ; in seventeen the left bones were 
longer than the right, and in two they were equal. In eleven of the twenty-six skeletons 
the femur and tibia in the one limb were either equal to or not more than 3 mm. longer 
than the corresponding bones in the opposite limb, in two skeletons there were 5 mm. of 
diiOFerence, in five skeletons 6 mm., in one 7 mm., in two 8 mm., in one 9 mm., in 
one 11 mm., in two 12 mm., and in one 15 mm. of difference. In six limbs the right 
femur was longer than the left, in eighteen the left was longer than the right, in two 
they were equal. In nine limbs the right tibia was longer than the left, in fifteen the 
left was longer than the right, in two they were equal. ] 
That inequalities existed in the length of the lower limbs in the same person was 
pointed out a few years ago by the American surgeons, Drs. Wight and Cox, and attention 
has subsequently been directed to this matter, owing to its surgical importance, by several 
other investigators. In 1879 Dr. Garson made a special analysis^ of the length of the 
femur and tibia in seventy skeletons of various races of men in the Museum of the Eoyal 
College of Surgeons of England. His method was somewhat different from that which 
I have adopted, as he has included both the spine and malleolus in the length of the tibia, 
and has taken the maximum length of the femur and not the length of the bone in the 
oblique position. His results, however, do not difi"er very materially from those which I 
have obtained. In 1 0 per cent, of his series of skeletons the limbs were symmetrical ; in 
mine, 77 per cent. In 35 "8 per cent, of his series the right limb was longer than the 
left; in mine, 26-9 per cent. In 54*3 per cent, of his series the left limb was longer 
than the right; in mine, 6 5 '4 per cent. When the difi"erence is only a few millimetres, 
compensation might be provided for in the living person by a slight difference in the 
vertical diameter of the opposite astragalus or os calcis, or of the fatty pad of the heel, 
or in the inclination of the pelvis, unless it should prove to be the case that inequality 
in the length of the limbs in the living person is the normal condition. When the 
difference is 6 or 8 mm. or upwards, the inequality is so marked that it is difficult to 
see how compensation can be obtained by modifications in any of the above anatomical 
conditions. 
Table XIII. is also instructive because, as it gives the length which the shaft of the 
limb would have had in the erect attitude, it enables one to form an estimate of the height 
both of the individual, and, where several skeletons belong to the same race, of the average 
height of the race. As the Table includes the measurements of a few tall persons as 
1 Journ. of Anat. and Phys., vol. xiii. p. 502, July 1879. 
