Chapter XXXIX: Munsee: Humeri

MALES
------------------------------------------------
Right
--------------+-------+-------------+-----------
Number of |Length,|Diameters at | Index
adult humeri |maximum| middle[48] | of shaft
| +------+------+ (b × 100)
| |Major |Minor | ————————
| |(_a_) | (_b_)| a
--------------+-------+------+------+-----------
Average: | _cm._ | _cm._ |_cm._|
Paired (13) | 32.5 | 2.24| 1.65 | 73.6
Total present| | | |
(14) | 32.5 | 2.25| 1.65 | 73.4
Minimum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
(14) | 31.1 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 65.2
Maximum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
| | | |
(14) | 34.4 | 2.6 | 1.85 | 81.6
--------------+-------+------+------+-----------
Left
--------------+-------+------+------+-----------
Average: | _cm._ | _cm._ |_cm._|
Paired (13) | 32.6 | 2.2 | 1.64 | 74.6
Total present| | | |
(13) | 32.6 | 2.2 | 1.64 | 74.6
Minimum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
(13) | 31. | 1.85 | 1.4 | 65.2
Maximum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
| | | |
(13) | 34.7 | 2.55 | 1.95 | 81.4
--------------+-------+------+-------+-----------

FEMALES
-------------------------------------------------
Right
--------------+-------+-------------+-----------
Number of |Length,|Diameters at | Index
adult humeri |maximum| middle[49] | of shaft
| +------+------+ (b × 100)
| |Major |Minor | ————————
| |(_a_) |(_b_) | a
--------------+-------+-------------+-----------
Average: | _cm._ | _cm._|_cm._ |
Paired (12) | 30.6 | 2.09 | 1.43 | 68.4
Total present| | | |
(15) | 30.7 | 2.08 | 1.41 | 67.7
Minimum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
(15) | 28.5 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 61.9
Maximum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
(15) | 32.3 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 77.3
--------------+-------+------+------+-----------
Left
--------------+-------+------+-----+-----------
Average: | _cm._ | _cm._|_cm._|
Paired (12) | 30.2 | 2.01 | 1.4 | 69.8
Total present| | | |
(12) | 30.2 | 2.01 | 1.4 | 69.8
Minimum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
(12) | 28.5 | 1.75 | 1.25| 63.6
Maximum: | | | |
Total present| | | |
(12) | 31.9 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 77.3
--------------+-------+------+-----+-----------

[48] Diameter major = parallel to the flat, anterior surface; diameter minor = at a right angle to the preceding.

[49] Diameter major = parallel to the flat, anterior surface; diameter minor = at a right angle to the preceding.

The averages are in no way exceptional. Reference to the writer’s report on the Indian skeletal remains from Arkansas and Louisiana[50] will show that the humeri of that collection had practically the same dimensions.

[50] _Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila._, XIV, 1909, pp. 211-212.

The relation of the average of paired female humeri to that of paired male humeri is as 94.2 to 100, which is somewhat higher than existed among the Arkansas and Louisiana Indians (91.34 for 86 humeri), among Indians in general (91.2 for 602 humeri), and also among whites (91.8 for 2,700 humeri), but is lower than in the American negro (94.6 for 164 humeri). As no error in the sexual identification entered into the present series, the disparity here shown is difficult to explain, except perhaps by the result of some peculiar local occupational differences in the two sexes or a local hereditary multiplication of an individual peculiarity.

The right and left humeri are of practically the same length in the males, while in the females the average of the left bones is slightly inferior to that of the right, as is usual in most Indian tribes and also among the white and other races. The equal length of the arm bones in the males indicates probably a lack of specialized occupation.

The dimensions of the shaft of the humerus at the middle and their percental relation or index are interesting in several respects, as shown by the following data: