Chapter LXX: Comparison of the Munsee Pelvis with That of Other

INDIANS AND OF WHITES

LEGEND:
A = Mean height of ossa innominata
B = Greatest breadth of pelvis (between outer lips of crests)[87]
C = Diameter lateral maximum of brim
D = Diameter antero-posterior maximum of brim

MALES
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
| | | | | | |
|Specimens| (A) | (B) |Pelvic| (C) | (D) |Brim
Group | (pairs) | | | index| | |index
| | | | | | |
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
| |_cm._|_cm._| |_cm._|_cm._|
Munsee | (6) |21.2 |26.7 | 78.9 |12.1 |10.6 | 87.8
Arkansas and Louisiana| (23) |21.55|28.1 | 76.7 |13 |10.4 | 79.8
Southern Utah | | | | | | |
cliff-dwellers | (23) |20.6 |26.85| 76.7 |12.4 |10 | 80.6
Southwest and Mexico | (15) |20.6 |27 | 76.2 |12.3 | 9.7 | 78.7
United States whites | (32) |22.06|27.1 | 81.4 |12.7 | 9.64| 75.9
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
FEMALES
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
Munsee | (10) |19.95|25.9 | 77.0 |13 |11 | 84.5
Arkansas and Louisiana| (12) |19.7 |26.8 | 73.5 |13.33|10.74| 81.4
Southern Utah | | | | | | |
cliff-dwellers | (7) |19.05|25.4 | 74.5 |13.1 |10.1 | 77.4
Southwest and Mexico | (12) |19.15|25.7 | 74.4 |12.9 |10.75| 83.1
United States whites | (20) | 0.16|27.05| 74.5 |13.35|10.73| 80.4
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----

[87] The pelvis being held in articulation.

The brim index in general shows unexpected irregularity from group to group and between the two sexes. In the Munsee and the southern Utah cliff-dwellers it is higher in the males; in the other Indians and in the whites it is higher in the females; and the range of its groupal as well as individual variation is considerable. As all the specimens were measured by the author with the same instruments, by the same method, and with equal care, the differences can not be attributed to error, hence the only reasonable conclusion is that even under normal conditions (for these series contain no deformed or pathological pelves) the absolute as well as the relative dimensions of the superior strait are capable of not a little fluctuation, attributable, it seems, in some measure at least, to an early unequal development of the soft parts both within and without the pelvic cavity.

In order to satisfy himself further on this point, the writer extracted a number of the larger series of pelvic measurements from Emmons’s data, and from the next table it will be seen that, although they relate to females only, the groupal variation is also marked. Yet these differences among the Indians rarely if ever fall below what may be considered normal limits, or such a limit as would in the female still permit of safe childbirth under other normal conditions. They are therefore what may be called infunctional or _transfunctional_ fluctuations.