1884.] 
The Upright Attitude of Mankind.] 
137 
Now if man has always been eredt from his creation, — or, 
if that term be disliked, from his origin, — we have evidently 
nothing to hope from the future in the way of an amend- 
ment of this and other defedts. But if we have sprung 
from a quadrupedal animal, and have by degrees adopted an 
upright position, to which we are as yet imperfedtly adapted, 
the muscular tissues of the abdomen will doubtless in the 
lapse of ages become strengthened to meet the demand 
made upon them, so that the liability to rupture will de- 
crease. In like manner the other defedts above enumerated 
may gradually be rendered less serious. 
A most important point remains : the peritoneal ligaments 
of the uterus fully subserve suspensory fundtions. The an- 
terior, posterior, and lateral ligaments are mainly concerned 
in preventing the gravid uterus, in quadrupeds, from pitching 
too far forward towards the diaphragm. The round liga- 
ments are utterly unmeaning in the human female, but in 
the lower animals they serve the same purpose as the other 
ligaments. Prolapsus uteri, from the eredt position and the 
absence of supports adapted to that position, is thus ren- 
dered common, destroying the health and happiness of 
multitudes. 
As a simple dedudtion from mechanical laws it would 
readily follow that any animal or race of men which had 
for the longest time maintained an eredt position would have 
straighter abdomens, wider pelvic brims with contradted 
pelvic outlets, and that the weight of the spinal column 
would force the sacrum lower down. This, generally 
speaking, we find to be the case. In quadrupeds the box- 
shaped pelvis, which admits of easy parturition, is prevalent, 
Where the position of the animal is such as to throw the 
weight of the viscera into the pelvis, the brim necessarily 
widens, these weighty organs sink lower, and the heads of 
the thigh-bones adding as fulcra permit the crest of the ilium 
to be carried outwards, whilst the lower part of the pelvis is 
at the same time contradted. 
In the innominate bones of a young child the box-shape 
exists, whilst its prominent abdomen resembles that of the 
gorilla. The gibbon exhibits this iliac expansion through 
the sitting posture which developed his ischial callosities. 
Similarly iliac expansion occurs in the chimpanzee. The 
megatherium had wide iliacal expansions due to its semi- 
eredt habits; but as its weight was in great part supported 
by the huge tail, and as the femora rested in acetabula 
placed far forwards, the leverage necessary to contradt the 
lower portion of the pelvis was absent. 
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