lower scapular index than man. Broca's observations on the characteristics of sex and race of human scapulæ are by no means satisfactory, owing to the small number of observations. The indices of adult Frenchmen were obtained from twentythree individuals, of which nine were female; and those of African negroes from twenty-five individuals, of which five were female. Apparently one scapula was measured in each case. The next year Professor Flower and Dr. Garson measured two hundred scapulæ of Europeans. They admit that it is quite possible that some of the bones belonged to members of other races, and they paid no attention to sex, which for the most part was unknown. They counted every scapula measured as one, whether or not its fellow came under observation. They measured also a few scapula of other races, but the series were for the most part very small. The largest were twenty-one Andaman scapula and twelve Australian. M. Marius Livon also studied this subject at about the same time, and gave his results in his "Thèse pour le Doctorat," which appeared in 1879. I have never seen his essay, and know it only by references to it by Sir William Turner and by M. Manouvrier.2 He measured the bones of seventy-three Frenchmen and fifty-one Frenchwomen. Negroes, Andamanese, and Australians have higher indices, which means broader scapulæ, and consequently of a lower type. Broca points out, however, in his remarks about negroes, that this is true only of the mean, and that individuals of both classes are found to vary very much from it. Indeed, the anthropoid apes may have at least a scapular index within the range of the variations of man. The greater obliquity of the spine in apes makes their infra-spinous angle more characteristic. Broca claimed that, in spite of the great individual variation, this method is of value when applied to groups. I began a series of measurements of human and of anthropoid shoulder-blades several years ago and put it aside for other work. I have recently resumed it. My original purpose had been simply to collect additional statistics, but as I went on I was much struck by the diversity of forms which the scapula presents, as well as by the variation of the indices. I became convinced both that "Challenger" Reports, vol. xvi. 2 Revue d'Anthropologie, 2me série, tome iii., 1885. the indices do not necessarily indicate the shape of the bone, and that they are worthless to determine the race of any single bone. The one hundred and thirteen bones which I have called Caucasian are, like those used by Flower and Garson, rather a heterogeneous collection. They for the most part belong to the Harvard Medical School and to the Boston Society of Natural History. More than a few of them came from France. While they, no doubt, are in the main Caucasian, it is probable that there are some negro bones among them. Indeed, I know that two of the scapula came from the body of a negro. These are remarkable as presenting very low (instead of high) indices. Through the kindness of Professor Putnam, who most generously put all the stores of the Peabody Museum of Archæology at my disposition, I had hoped to be able to present a large collection of figures from the bones of the mound-builders, and perhaps to make observations on many individuals of a race which was less mixed than most of those whose bones are easily obtained to-day. I was, however, disappointed, and from a cause that is easy to foresee, namely, the great fragility of the scapula. I could have had long bones in abundance, but the shoulderblades were for the most part either in fragments, or so injured that the necessary measurements could not be made. I have the records of six scapulæ from California which are probably Indian, and of eighteen from the Kentucky mounds. The mean of the Californians is 67.25 for the scapular index and 91.05 for the infra-spinous. The mound-builders have a mean scapular index of 69.29 and an infra-spinous one of 93.75. The following table shows the indices of Caucasian bones obtained by my predecessors and myself. Livon is the only one who has a tolerably large series showing the difference between the sexes. Broca, with a much smaller series, had different results: To understand the significance of figures something more is needed than an average, which gives no hint of the range of variation, and accordingly I have arranged the figures of the in dices of the Caucasians and mound-builders in groups. The first row of figures shows the index, and opposite each is placed the number of scapulæ having that figure (or that figure and a fraction) for an index. The six Californians showed no extreme figures.1 1 There can be no question that in measurements the "personal equation" has its effect. No doubt the discrepancies would have been less if all the measurements had been made by one man. The very greatest care is needed to avoid mistakes. I was much mortified at the conclusion of this work to find inaccuracies in the measurements of two bones, the results of which it was practically impossible to rectify. Happily the errors are of little consequence. The scapulæ from Kentucky have a decidedly higher index than the Caucasians, and this is evidently not due to individual peculiarities, for though three specimens with remarkably high indices have their effect on the average, yet the scapular index is only once, and the infra-spinous never, as low as the Caucasian mean. Broca gives some of his extreme figures, which are very interesting. The bone with the lowest indices belonged to a Turk from Smyrna; the next lowest scapular index was furnished by a Frenchwoman, and the next lowest infra-spinous by an Arab. The highest indices belonged to an African negro, by name Tom Blaise, and the next to a black from Hindoostan. Flower and Garson, unfortunately, make no mention of their extreme cases. For more convenient comparison I put my extremes below Broca's in the following tables: 98.2 Dwight. Kentucky Mound-builder (Fig. 5)................................... Dwight. Kentucky Mound-builder........ Dwight. Highest scapular index among Caucasians............. 76:3 71.8 102.0 Broca thought it likely (assez probable) that his limits would be but rarely passed. Table II. shows, however, that I have measured no less than twenty-two bones with a scapular index below sixty, and that five of them were below fifty-seven. The two given in Table III. are, however, the only ones in which the infra-spinous index falls below seventy-five. Turning to the maxima, I have no equal to Tom Blaise in both indices, which is due to the great obliquity of the spine of his scapula, an apelike feature which the mound-builders cannot rival. One of them has a scapular index which is decidedly higher, and they both exceed the black from Hindoostan in both respects. Sir William Turner states in his "Challenger" report that, excluding the scapulæ of one Hottentot, the mean scapular index of several races ranged from 60.3 in the Tasmanians to 70.2 in the Andaman Islanders. This includes the results of some other observers. It would appear, however, that for some reason he has omitted also his four Ohauan (Pacific Islands) scapulæ, which have the extraordinary means of 78.8 for the scapular index and 117 for the infra-spinous. He found the variations in the scapular index of African blacks, male and female, to range from 57 to 81, and the infra-spinous index from 30 to 117. Apart from the range of individual variation in the indices, this method is open to at least two criticisms: first, that there are various forms of scapula, which may not be without their ethnological significance, to which these indices give no clue; and, secondly, that the length of the scapula-which is of primary importance in determining the more important index, the scapular— depends in part on the development of the superior angle of the bone. In support of the first criticism I would call .attention to two scapula (Figs. 6 and 7) whose indices are almost identical, yet which in shape differ enough to be bones of different species. I shall return to these points in the course of the discussion of the variation of different parts of the bone. Length. In the one hundred and thirteen Caucasians, all adults, the mean length is 16.22 cm., the extremes being 13.2 and 20.1. There are six under 14 cm. and ten of 18 or more. The mean of the six Californian Indians is 13.62, and of the eighteen from the Kentucky mounds 14.07. The range of variation in these two series is very small. The shortest bone is 12.4, and the longest 15.8, both from Kentucky. These old bones, both in size and shape, constitute a well-marked series. Professor Mivart, in his well-known paper on the "Appendicular Skeleton of the Primates," takes several parts of the scapula for comparison. We shall consider the variation that some of these present in man alone. The inferior angle (Fig. 1), which Professor Mivart puts at • Philosophical Transactions, London, vol. clvii., part 2, 1867. 2 In Figures 1, 2, and 3 the partial outlines are drawn as though taken from the bone of the right side in every case. This is for convenience. |