of Edinburgh, Session 1885 - 86 . 
379 
is longer than broad. The following descriptive terms may conve- 
niently express these differences in the relative length and breadth 
of the sacrum. As the Greek word Upov is the equivalent of the 
Latin sacrum, the term dolichohieric would signify a sacrum in which 
the length exceeded the breadth, whilst platyhieric would signify a 
sacrum in which the breadth exceeded the length. 
In considering the modifications in the sacral index, as in the 
index of the pelvic brim, it is important to hear in mind that 
sex modifies the relative proportions, and that in women the sacrum 
as a rule is broader in proportion to its length than in men. 
In working out the results at which I have arrived, I have 
measured a number of aboriginal skeletons, a few of which were 
brought home by H.M.S. “ Challenger,” but the greater number of 
which are in the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edin- 
burgh. The detailed measurements of these skeletons are given in 
the Tables in Part ii. of my Report on the Human Skeletons, now 
in type for the Challenger Reports. I have also examined the 
literature of the subject so far as I have had access to it, and have 
analysed the observations on the length and breadth of the sacrum 
recorded by previous observers. 
Observations on the length and breadth of the sacrum in 
Europeans of both sexes by Verneau, Gortz, and G arson have shown 
that in them the breadth exceeded the length. The mean sacral 
index for European men was 1 1 2 A, and for women 117, so that the 
sacrum in them was platyhieric. 
In aboriginal Australians, on the other hand, the measurements 
of Keferstein, Barnard Davis, Spengel and myself on men have 
shown that the length of the sacrum as a rule exceeded the breadth. 
The mean of thirteen adult males was 98 ’5, i.e ., they were dolicho- 
hieric. In women again the sacrum was relatively broader, and the 
mean of nine adult females measured by B. Davis, Yerneau, Garson, 
and myself, was 102-5. 
Of the aborigines of South Africa the mean sacral index of three 
Bushmen, measured by G. Fritsch and myself, was 94 ; and of four 
Bushwomen, measured by Yerneau, Gortz, andG. Fritsch, was 94‘7. 
The mean sacral index of three male Hottentots, measured by 
Wyman and Fritsch, was 83 -9, and the index of one female was 
85. In six male Kaffirs, the mean sacral index was 92 -8. In the 
Bush, Hottentots, and Kaffirs the sacrum was dolichohieric. 
