Chapter XL: Comparison in Dimensions of Munsee

WITH OTHER RACIAL HUMERI

---------------------+---------------------------------
| Males
+-------+--------+--------+-------
| Whites|American| Munsee | Other
| |negroes | |Indians
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Number of humeri | | | |
(both sides) |(1,930)| (112) | (26) | (348)
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Length, cm. | 32.53 | 32.7 | _32.55_| 31.67
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Mean diameter of | | | |
shaft at middle, cm.| 2.02 | 2.09 | _1.93_| 1.91
---------------------+-------+--------+--------|-------
Index of shaft | 83 | 84.1 | 74.1 | 73.1
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
| Females
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Number of humeri | | | |
(both sides) | (770)| (52) | (24) | (254)
---------------------+-------+--------+--------|-------
Length, cm. | 29.8 | 30.9 |_30.4_ | 28.9
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Mean diameter of | | | |
shaft at middle, cm.| 1.83| 1.89 | _1.78_ | 1.69
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Index of shaft | 79.3 | 79.2 | 69.1 | 70.3
---------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------

In the first place it will be seen that although the Munsee arm bones are practically of the same average length as those of the miscellaneous American whites, their strength in both sexes, and especially in the males, is greater in the whites. It will further be noted that the disproportion is especially pronounced in the thickness of the bone, the humerus of whites, both male and female, being the stouter, as a result of which the shaft index is decidedly higher in the whites than in the Indians—the Munsee humerus, in other words, is more platybrachic. Much the same distinction exists between the Munsee humeri and those of the American negro; while on the other hand it will be noted that in this respect there is close harmony between the Munsee and other Indians.

Referring again to the table on page 53, and contrasting the bones of the two sides, it will be observed that the left humerus in both sexes is on the average weaker, though the difference is quite small; also that the shaft index in both sexes is larger on the left side. Exactly the same conditions have been observed by the writer on the several series of arm bones of whites and negroes, and also on other Indians, as are presented in preceding tables, which fact shows that we are dealing with no accidental phenomena. The difference in the index between the two sides is due exclusively to the relatively greater breadth (i. e., the antero-posterior diameter) of the right bone, the thickness of the humerus being very nearly the same on the two sides of the body.

SUPRACONDYLOID PROCESS IN A FEMUR, AND A SPURIOUS SUPRACONDYLOID FORAMEN IN A HUMERUS OF THE MUNSEE]

DETAILED OBSERVATIONS

_Shape of the shaft._—A number of years ago the writer[51] called attention to the fact that in transverse sections at the middle the long-bones show each a considerable variety in the shape of the shaft, and that these varieties can be reduced for each bone to several distinct types of both functional and racial significance. As to the humeri, the most frequent shapes are the p. c., plano-convex or infantile form; type 1, or ordinary prismatic; type 2, lateral prismatic; and type 4, in which the anterior border is broadened out to a distinct fourth surface.

[51] Hrdlička, Typical Forms of Shaft of Long-Bones, _Proceedings of the Association of American Anatomists_, 14th Sess., Dec. 1900, pp. 55-60, figs. 1-2, Washington, 1901.

Among the Munsee the occurrence of shapes was as follows: