LEGEND:
A = Pelvic index[85]
B = Diameter[86] antero-posterior (_b_)
MALE
-------+------+----------+-------+-----+---------------------------
| | | | | Superior Strait
| | Mean |Breath | +-------+-------+-----------
|Number| height |maximum| |Breath | ||Brim index
| | of ossa | of | (A) |maximum| (B) | (b×100)
| |innominata|pelvis | | (_a_) | | ———————
| | | | | | | a
-------+------+----------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-----------
| | _cm._ | |_cm._| | _cm._ | _cm._
Average| (6) | 21.2 | 26.7 |78.9 | 12.1 | 10.6 | 87.8
Minimum| (6) | 20.8 | 24.4 |76.6 | 11.6 | 9.6 | 78.7
Maximum| (6) | 21.5 | 28.2 |85.9 | 12.8 | 11.2 | 98.3
-------+------+----------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-----------
FEMALE
-------+------+----------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-----------
Average| (10) | 19.95 | 25.9 |77.0 | 13.0 | 11.0 | 84.5
Minimum| (10) | 18.5 | 24.1 |73.3 | 12.3 | 9.4 | 70.7
Maximum| (10) | 20.7 | 27.8 |80.4 | 13.8 | 12.5 | 94.4
-------+------+----------+-------+-----+-------+-------+-----------
[85] Mean height of innominate bones×100/maximum breadth of pelvis
[86] Promontory of sacrum to nearest point on the inner lip of pubic
bones.
The pelvic cavity at the superior strait or brim is more spacious, both
antero-posteriorly and laterally, in the Munsee female than in the
male, and it is also somewhat broader relatively to its depth, as a
result of which it gives a somewhat lower depth-breadth index.
On comparison with the pelves of the mound-building Indians of the
Arkansas and Louisiana mounds, those of the Southwest and Mexico, and
those of United States whites, it is seen that the Munsee pelvis, as a
whole, is of moderate dimensions, especially in its breadth, which is
slightly smaller than that in any of the other groups in the males and
in most of the females. Because of this fact, the height-breadth index
of the pelvis in the Munsee is relatively high—higher than that of any
of the other Indians. It is exceeded in this respect only by the pelvis
of the white males.
An even more marked peculiarity of the Munsee pelvis applies to its
inlet or brim. As will be seen by a glance at the figures, this is
relatively narrow and deep in both sexes; the lateral diameter,
with a single minor exception, is the lowest, and the diameter
antero-posterior the highest of all the groups. As a result of this
condition, the brim index of the Munsee in both males and females is
exceptionally high.
LXX. COMPARISON OF THE MUNSEE PELVIS WITH THAT OF OTHER
INDIANS AND OF WHITES
LEGEND:
A = Mean height of ossa innominata
B = Greatest breadth of pelvis (between outer lips of crests)[87]
C = Diameter lateral maximum of brim
D = Diameter antero-posterior maximum of brim
MALES
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
| | | | | | |
|Specimens| (A) | (B) |Pelvic| (C) | (D) |Brim
Group | (pairs) | | | index| | |index
| | | | | | |
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
| |_cm._|_cm._| |_cm._|_cm._|
Munsee | (6) |21.2 |26.7 | 78.9 |12.1 |10.6 | 87.8
Arkansas and Louisiana| (23) |21.55|28.1 | 76.7 |13 |10.4 | 79.8
Southern Utah | | | | | | |
cliff-dwellers | (23) |20.6 |26.85| 76.7 |12.4 |10 | 80.6
Southwest and Mexico | (15) |20.6 |27 | 76.2 |12.3 | 9.7 | 78.7
United States whites | (32) |22.06|27.1 | 81.4 |12.7 | 9.64| 75.9
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
FEMALES
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
Munsee | (10) |19.95|25.9 | 77.0 |13 |11 | 84.5
Arkansas and Louisiana| (12) |19.7 |26.8 | 73.5 |13.33|10.74| 81.4
Southern Utah | | | | | | |
cliff-dwellers | (7) |19.05|25.4 | 74.5 |13.1 |10.1 | 77.4
Southwest and Mexico | (12) |19.15|25.7 | 74.4 |12.9 |10.75| 83.1
United States whites | (20) | 0.16|27.05| 74.5 |13.35|10.73| 80.4
----------------------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----
[87] The pelvis being held in articulation.
The brim index in general shows unexpected irregularity from group to
group and between the two sexes. In the Munsee and the southern Utah
cliff-dwellers it is higher in the males; in the other Indians and in
the whites it is higher in the females; and the range of its groupal
as well as individual variation is considerable. As all the specimens
were measured by the author with the same instruments, by the same
method, and with equal care, the differences can not be attributed to
error, hence the only reasonable conclusion is that even under normal
conditions (for these series contain no deformed or pathological
pelves) the absolute as well as the relative dimensions of the superior
strait are capable of not a little fluctuation, attributable, it seems,
in some measure at least, to an early unequal development of the soft
parts both within and without the pelvic cavity.
In order to satisfy himself further on this point, the writer extracted
a number of the larger series of pelvic measurements from Emmons’s
data, and from the next table it will be seen that, although they
relate to females only, the groupal variation is also marked. Yet
these differences among the Indians rarely if ever fall below what may
be considered normal limits, or such a limit as would in the female
still permit of safe childbirth under other normal conditions. They
are therefore what may be called infunctional or _transfunctional_
fluctuations.