Reinhard_Heini
Gold
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2026
- Posts
- 838
- Reputation
- 805
Mr. WALTER RIVINGTON says, in a lecture published in the Medical Press and Circular, November 12, 1873:-
The pelvis of the male negro is smaller in all its measurements than the
European pelvis, and it would appear that the antero-posterior diameter of the brim is longer than the transverse. The pelvis of the negress, however, pre- sents a much greater difference from that of the male, than exists between the European male and female pelves. "In many of the females it is as large as in the European female. The average size, however, is somewhat less, in accord- ance with the slight inferiority of the dimensions of the fœtal head in the negro. Parturition is also facilitated by the sacrum being somewhat less curved in the negro than in the European." It has been considered by some, that the pelves of the negro Bushman and Australian approach nearer than the European to the structure of the pelves of the Apes; but a very superficial examination will suffice for the observation of the marked distinctions existing between them. Not only do the pelves of the negress and female Bushmen and Australian often present the peculiarities which belong to the European, but they are deficient in characters always present among the higher Apes. Thus, in the Quadrumana, the antero-posterior diameter preponderates greatly over the transverse; the depth of the pelvis is greater; the end of the coccyx is higher than the upper border of the symphysis pubis; the promontory of the sacrum is less marked; the sacrum is almost straight; the sacro-vertebral angle is very large, as the sacrum is much more nearly in a line with the rest of the spinal column; the pubic bones are deep and broad; the iliac alæ are elongated, narrow, and straight, and pass transversely outwards, nearly in the plane of the anterior sur- face of the sacrum; the ischial spines are nearer to each other, and the tuberosities are expanded and everted.
The pelvis of the male negro is smaller in all its measurements than the
European pelvis, and it would appear that the antero-posterior diameter of the brim is longer than the transverse. The pelvis of the negress, however, pre- sents a much greater difference from that of the male, than exists between the European male and female pelves. "In many of the females it is as large as in the European female. The average size, however, is somewhat less, in accord- ance with the slight inferiority of the dimensions of the fœtal head in the negro. Parturition is also facilitated by the sacrum being somewhat less curved in the negro than in the European." It has been considered by some, that the pelves of the negro Bushman and Australian approach nearer than the European to the structure of the pelves of the Apes; but a very superficial examination will suffice for the observation of the marked distinctions existing between them. Not only do the pelves of the negress and female Bushmen and Australian often present the peculiarities which belong to the European, but they are deficient in characters always present among the higher Apes. Thus, in the Quadrumana, the antero-posterior diameter preponderates greatly over the transverse; the depth of the pelvis is greater; the end of the coccyx is higher than the upper border of the symphysis pubis; the promontory of the sacrum is less marked; the sacrum is almost straight; the sacro-vertebral angle is very large, as the sacrum is much more nearly in a line with the rest of the spinal column; the pubic bones are deep and broad; the iliac alæ are elongated, narrow, and straight, and pass transversely outwards, nearly in the plane of the anterior sur- face of the sacrum; the ischial spines are nearer to each other, and the tuberosities are expanded and everted.
