On the scapular index as a race character in man / by W.H. Flower and J.G. Garson.

  • Flower, William Henry, 1831-1899.
Date:
[1879]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the scapular index as a race character in man / by W.H. Flower and J.G. Garson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    RACE character IN MAN. By W. iTTlower, LL.D., F.R.S., and J. G. Garson, M.D., Royal College of Surgeons of England. In the Bidletin de la Societe d’Anthropologic de Paris, tom. i. (3rd series), 1878, page 66, M. Broca has called attention to the form of the scapula in man and a considerable series of mammals, and has, for the first time, formulated the principal differences in the shape of the bone by establishing an index or numerical expression of proportion between its chief diameters—the length and breadth. Besides this, which he calls the scapular index, he has established a second, to show the relative development of the infraspinous plate (post-scapula, Parker), this he calls the “ indice sous-4pineux,” or infraspinous index. The breadth of the bone (AB) is taken from the centre of the posterior or outer border of the glenoid fossa (B), along the base or attached border of the spine, to the point (A) where this line intersects the vertebral border. The length (CD) is the greatest distance between the pos- terior superior (C) and inferior (D) angles. The infraspinous length is that between A and D. The general result of the series of measurements made by M. Broca shows that, among the mammalia, man has exceptionally low indices, both scapular and infraspinous. The anthropoid apes, he found, approach man, but between these and the other quadrumana there is a wide interval. In the bats, how- ever, in which the function of the scapula, as a basis for the attachment of the muscles of flight, is totally different from that of animals having a quadrupedal mode of progression, the index is lower even than in man. With regard to the different races of men, the materials at