Chapter LXXIX: Munsee Bones: Os Calcis

MALES
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
|Specimens|Length,| Breadth, | |Breadth-|Breadth-
| (pairs) |maximum| minimum |Height of| length | height
| | |of body[97]| body[98] | index | index
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
| | _cm._ | _cm._ | _cm._ | |
Average| 10 | 8.1 | 2.74 | 4.07 | 33.9 | 67.4
| 10 | 8.05 | 2.72 | 4.07 | 33.87 | 66.9
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
Minimum| 10 | 7.7 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 30.1 | 61.6
| 10 | 7.5 | 2.45 | 3.8 | 28.1 | 62.2
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
Maximum| 10 | 8.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 37.7 | 72.5
| 10 | 8.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 37.3 | 73.7
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
FEMALES
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
Average| 10 | 7.35 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 32.9 | 66.9
| 12 | 7.3 | 2.38 | 3.6 | 33.1 | 66.4
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
Minimum| 10 | 6.7 | 2 | 3.2 | 28.2 | 60.6
| 12 | 6.7 | 1.95 | 3.3 | 28.7 | 59
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------
Maximum| 10 | 7.7 | 2.65 | 3.8 | 34.7 | 71.6
| 12 | 7.8 | 2.65 | 3.9 | 34.3 | 70.4
-------+---------+-------+----------+---------+--------+---------

[97] Branches of _compas glissière_ applied to the sides of the bone in the region of minimum thickness of the body.

[98] Maximum height at greatest constriction of body, obtained by moving the bone from side to side between the points of the branches of the _compas glissière_.

It will be observed that, as is usual with other parts of the skeleton, the male bone is somewhat larger than the female; also that the right os calcis averages very slightly larger than the left in length and breadth, but is equal in both sexes to that of the left side in height. Reducing the three average measurements to a mean diameter, or module, we obtain for the males on the right, 4.97 cm.; on the left, 4.95 cm.; for the females, right, 4.45 cm.; left, 4.43 cm. showing that the difference in the mass of the bones on the two sides is very small.

The three measurements of the os calcis give rise to two indexes: one expressing the percental relation between its breadth and length, the other showing a similar relation between its breadth and height. The breadth-length index is somewhat higher in the males than in the females, but in the paired bones does not differ very appreciably on the two sides. Taking all the bones, as in the next table, we see that the index in the males predominates slightly over that in the females, which, judging from the constancy of the condition in the several series of specimens used for comparison, is probably also the true condition in the Munsee. It indicates a tendency in the males toward not only absolutely but also relatively slightly thicker calcaneus.

The breadth-height index, like the breadth-length proportion, is also slightly higher on both sides in the males than in the females, and in both sexes on the right than on the left side. As the height is the same on the two sides, this shows exactly the slightly greater relative thickness of the bone in the males than in the females, and on the right than on the left side. The phenomenon is doubtless connected with difference of stress to which the bone is subjected in the two sexes and on the two sides of the body.

The comparative data given in the following table show that, as with many other bones of the body, the os calcis in the Munsee and in other Indians in both sexes, and especially in the males, is smaller in all dimensions than it is in the whites. The relative proportions of the bone are quite alike in the different racial groups of males, but differ in an interesting way in the females, in which, among the whites, the bones show lower indexes than in the other groups. The white female os calcis is longer and higher, but equal in slenderness to that of the Indian.