Chapter LXXVI: First Metacarpal in Munsee and in Whites

---------------------+-----------+---------+------------
| | | Metacarpo-
Both sexes | Specimens | Length, | humeral
| | maximum | index
---------------------+-----------+---------+------------
| | _cm._ |
Munsee | (16) | 4.55 | 14.4
United States whites | (94) | 4.69 | 14.9
---------------------+-----------+---------+------------
Munsee | (12) | 4.35 | 14.0
United States whites | (65) | 4.43 | 14.3
---------------------+-----------+---------+-----------

BONES OF THE FEET

Owing to their larger size and greater differentiation, a number of the bones of the feet, particularly of the tarsus, yield material for measurement and special observation, and have received rather extended attention by anatomists and anthropologists,[93] but as yet there is no perfect uniformity in the methods of measurement or of description. The writer’s object in selecting his measurements and points for description was to employ only those that appear to be the most sensible and significant, the most readily standardized, and involving no details, save in cases that may be of special importance.

[93] S. P. Lazarus, Zur Morphologie des Fufsskelettes, _Morphol. Jahrb._, XXIV, H. 1, repr., 8⁰, Leipzig, 1896; W. Pfitzner, Beiträge zur Kenntniss des menschlichen Extremitätenskelets, _Morphol. Arbeiten_, I, H. 1, Jena, 1891; Th. Volkov, _Variations squelettiques du pied chez les primates et dans les races humaines; Thèse doctorale de la Faculté des Sciences_, Paris, 1905; Chas. Fraipont, _L’Astragale de l’homme Moustérien_, etc., 8⁰, Bruxelles, 1912; M. Reicher, Beitrag zur Anthropologie des Calcaneus, _Archiv für Anthropologie_, N. F., XII, H. 2, 1913; S. Poniatowski, Badania Antropologiczne nad Kóscia Skokowa (Anthropological Studies of the Talus), _Prace Towarzystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego_, 1913.

_First Metatarsal_

As the first metacarpal serves in a measure as an index of the size of the hand, so the first metatarsal gives an indication of that of the foot. The proportional length of the foot can further be judged from the percental relation of the first metatarsal to the femur. The relation between the size of the feet and that of the hands is expressed by the pollex-hallux index, or percental relation between the first metacarpal and the first metatarsal.

There are in all 36 first metatarsals among the Munsee bones, the measurements and relations of which are given in the above table. It will be seen that the length of the bone is, on the average, greater in the males than in the females, but it does not differ perceptibly on the two sides of the body in either sex.

The hallux-femur index is practically equal on the two sides (differing only in centesimals), and is larger in the males than in the females, showing that the foot of the Munsee male was not only somewhat larger than that of the female, but was also larger in that sex in relation to the length of the femur and the stature. This relative excess of the foot is more marked than was that of the hand, and in all probability is a result of greater functional activity, the male Indians being excessive walkers and runners.

A comparison of the first metatarsal in the Munsee and in the United States whites shows that in the latter, in both sexes, the bone is longer, indicating, on the average, a longer foot. The difference is especially marked on the left side and is probably both racial and functional.

As a result of the greater length of the bone in the United States whites, whose average stature is very nearly that of the Munsee, we find that their hallux-femur index is decidedly higher than that of the Munsee, especially on the left side. The white man’s foot is therefore not only longer absolutely, but also relatively as compared with the femur and, indirectly, the stature.

The foot of the whites is also somewhat longer relatively to the hand, than that of the Munsee, and especially on the left side, which gives us a lower pollex-hallux index for the whites.