IlOnX EXPKDITION—ANTIinOPOLOOY. 
153 
I "ive tlieso lumbar indices for what they are worth, but the presence of 
disease, though this possibly does not aflbct the thickness of the bodies, renders 
them somewhat unreliable for purposes of comparison or definition of the lundiar 
curve. So far as the figures go they confirm Turner’s statement that the lumbar 
curve, in Australians as well as in other black I’aces, is concave anteriorly. 
The tibia bears on the anterior margin of the inferior articular surface, a 
small and obscurely marked facet; there is no corresponding facet on the neck of 
the astragalus, though in the position of extreme dorsiflexion of the foot there is 
very close-fitting of the two bones. Since my attention has been called to the 
existence of these facets,* I am able to support the author’s statement that they 
are of frequent occurrence in Australian tibire, though his explanation of their 
causation for this race at least lias to be reconciled with the statement made iu the 
foot note to p. 35. The antero-posterior curvature of the external articular 
surface of the upper end of the tibia, to the degree of convexity of which the same 
author also attaches importance as being influenced by posture, is equal to 2-5 
according to his graphic scale. 
As bearing on the question of the increased area of oi-igin of the tibialis 
posticus, associated with platycnemia, which has been previously mentioned in the 
text, I may mention that I have very recently had an opportunity of seeing a 
dissection of the leg of a Northern Teriitory native. In this subject the area of 
origin in question was wider, transversely, across the tibia than in the European 
but it did not extend so low down. Professor Wabson informs me that he has 
found this to be the case in three Australian natives, two of whom were from the 
Northern Territory. In one of them there was a fusiform muscle, two inches long 
and nearly as thick as the little finger, developed in the tendinous extension from 
the peroneus brevis to the extensor tendon of the little toe (peroneus quinti 
digiti). 
* Journal Anat. and Phys., vols. xxiii and xxiv.—“ Influence of posture on the form of the articular surfaces 
of the tibia and astracralus, etc.” 
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