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book. It would be wonderful, indeed, if it did, for the progress of science adds so much year by year to the histology and development of every order of Invertebrata, that it is impossible for any one to keep the pace. It appears to be a rule to commence works on zoology with the lowest form of life, and then they of course receive great attention, and to the detriment of the Vertebrata; but in this instance the inevitable want of space has crowded together at the end of the book the history of the Invertebrata. In the next edition Dr. C. Blake will have to add much that is new in the "Radiata," especially in the Echinodermata and Actinozoa, and his attention will be directed to late researches on the Infusoria. But it must be admitted that if Dr. C. Blake can give a course of lectures to students which will contain all that is in his book they are lucky, and may carry away a vast amount of knowledge, tinged though it be with Owenism rather than with the fashionable theories of the day. What students really require is a good book on zoology which shall not have so much "inside anatomy" and palæontology in it, and we would direct Dr. Carter Blake's attention to this opinion. He is a hard-working student of nature, an anthropologist of reputation, and a very able human osteologist, and with these qualifications he has a fair field open before him.

Pelvic Measurements.-The subject of pelvic measurements is once more cropping up for discussion amongst anatomists. Since the publication of the classical works by G. and W. Vrolik, M. J. Weber, Zaaiger, Martin, Van West, Joulin, Pruner Bey, and Huxley, we have had some important and suggestive notes which are contained in the ninety-seventh and ninety-eighth pages of the newly issued supplement to Barnard Davis's Thesaurus Craniorum,' which insist justly on the fact that, up to the present time, observers have contradicted one another as to the distinguishing features of the male and female pelvis. Humphry had well summarised the known facts (Skeleton, p. 444) when he said "the pelvis of the female is altogether a lighter, more expanded, and less compact structure than that of the male. Its processes are shorter and further apart, its cavity shallower and wider, and the several diameters are somewhat greater, particularly the transverse diameter of the basin, which measures 5-4 inches, that of the male being only 5.1 inches.' this Dr. Barnard Davis has noted that even these measurements cannot be taken as absolute; they are only individual, not universal. Thus we see that in the skeleton of an Aino woman from the island of Jesso the transverse diameter of the brim only reached 4.7 inches while in a male Illinois Indian it extended to five inches. Dr. Barnard Davis considers that the angle formed by the pubic bones may be taken almost as an infallible indication of the male or

On

11. Le Bassin dans les sexes et dans les races. Par R. VERNEAU, M.D. Paris. Paris and London.

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female. In an Aino woman it is 90°, in an Australian female 90°; these dimensions being exceeded in a Moriori from New Zealand and in a Hottentot, both females, whilst in no male of his collection does it extend much beyond 80°. Humphry has explained that this flatness of the pubic arch is always accompanied with lightness, thinness, and shallowness.

We have now an important work by Dr. Verneau, which comprises the result of the examination of 208 adult pelves of various races and different sexes. His work is divided into four distinct parts. In the first he gives an abridged history of the subject, with a bibliographical index. In the second he describes the pelvis in the European, laying especial stress on the brim. It is necessary before arriving at any general ethnical classificatory results to have a standard to which reference can be made in all cases. This term of comparison can only be the European pelvis, and for this reason it has been described with some detail. In the third part the author searches for the various sexual differences which may be recognised in European pelves; and the fourth is devoted to the study of the differences which are presented in the pelves of various races of man. The author, as is usual with Frenchmen, expresses all his results in millimètres.

The author well points out that Prichard, in his 'Natural History of the Races of Man,' was content to examine the conclusions of Camper, Weber, Vrolik, and Soemmering, without bringing a single new document before the imperfectly educated public who perused his compilation, and which even at that time were at a lower level than in France or Germany. Dr. Joulin made it appear that the examination of the pelvis did not lead to the establishment of more than two great divisions in the human race, and received the wellgrounded censure of Dr. Barnard Davis, who could not attach all the importance desirable to a work in which the races of New Guinea, of Madagascar, of the coast of Mozambique and of the eastern coast of Africa, are confounded together under the common term of Negroes, and in which the Bushmen and Peruvians are amalgamated under the hypothetical denomination of Mongols. It is certainly difficult to find differences among races of men, when one race alone is made to comprise races as distinct as those above mentioned. Herr Carl Martin's measurements were, like those of Dr. Arthur Farre, destined for purely obstetrical purposes, but, unlike them, have that occasional inaccuracy which is not uncommon in German works which parade detail as their especial feature. Dr. Fritsch's work on the populations of South Africa contains much valuable information on the pelves of Caffres, Hottentots, and Bosjesmen. Many of the above-named writers occupied themselves too exclusively with the female pelvis, but Dr. Verneau devotes his attention to the male pelvis as well.

With regard to his descriptión of the pelvis, it will be found to agree with the tone of thought of most French writers and with that of Mr. Thomas Cooke, who has brilliantly applied the French method of analysis of structure to English anatomical teaching.

The third part, on the sexual differences which are presented by the pelvis, is of more importance. These differences are much more salient than those of any other part of the skeleton. They are of two orders-firstly, those which are analogous to those found in other regions, and which are derived from marks imprinted on the bones by the muscular system, and by which the male exhibits a rougher surface with higher elevations and deeper depressions. The second category of differences relates to the presence in the female of a uterus intermediate to the bladder and rectum. The presence of this organ is sufficient to explain the characters which are met with in the female lower pelvis. Some of the differential characters which are constantly referred to are, according to Dr. Verneau, of no value. Such are the form of the ischio-pubic foramen. Some are entirely erroneous, and he cites the allegation that the concavity of the sacrum is greater in the female, as an example. He offers as decisive characters the facts that the pubic spines are more divaricated (ecartées), that the iliac fossæ are flatter, and that all the diameters are smaller. One exception may be given to the latter strong statement, viz. that of the greater distance of the antero-superior iliac spine from the point of the sacro-iliac articulation which corresponds to the upper outlet.

It is clear, according to Dr. Verneau, that the pelvis presents in females a peculiar aspect, tending towards the évasement of the lower portion and the diminution of the height.

The differences are marked almost exclusively on the lower pelvis, and are determined by the presence of the uterus.

The form of the upper circumference is the same in both sexes; the relation of the maximum antero-posterior diameter to the transverse diameter is 0.62 in both. All the dimensions of the internal iliac fossa are less in the female, with the exception of the distance which separates the antero-superior iliac spine from the sacro-iliac articulation. The internal iliac fossa is less excavated in females. The dorsal part, that is to say the iliac tuberosity, is much more developed and produced more behind than in men. The pubic spines are further apart in females. In these all the diameters of the upper outlet are greater than in men; this difference is especially visible as regards the transverse diameter. The upper outlet presents in females a more rounded condition, which partly tends to the increase of the maximum transverse diameter, and partly to the position of this diameter, which is more forwardly situated then in men. The large sciatic notch is less open and deeper in man. In him also the top of the sciatic spines is sometimes inside the postero-inferior

iliac spines; in females it is always outside. In a male pelvis the
distance which separates the sciatic spines is rarely more than 107
millimètres, and is often below ninety millimètres. In the female
the same interval often surpasses 107, and is never below ninety
millimètres. The maximum transverse diameter of the lower outlet
in females is nearly fifteen millimètres more than that in man. The
pubic arch is more open in the female pelvis (75° in the female, and
58° in the male). The summit of the above angle is always rounded
in the first. The ischio-pubic tubercle is more outwardly directed.
In the female the sacrum and the coccyx are less elevated and more
flattened. The cotyloid cavity is smaller, and inclined less back-
wardly and forwardly. The distance of the two cotyloid cavities is
greater when measured inwardly, and smaller when measured from
the ilio-sciatic notches. The sub-pubic foramen is not, as has been
erroneously said, oval in men and triangular in females. It is rela-
tively larger in the latter, and more oblique outwardly and inferiorly.
The distance between the ischia is greater in the female sex.
the vertical diameters are greater than in man. The total height of
the pelvis attains in man 220 millimètres, but in females only 197
millimètres. In the male pelvis the distance from the sciatic spine
to the most elevated spot on the iliac spine is on an average 167 milli-
mètres, in the female pelvis it only attains about 150 millimètres.
The distance from the sciatic spine is on an average in females 137
millimètres, in man this average reaches 150 millimètres. The
interval between the antero-posterior iliac spine and the lower part
of the ischium being 165 millimètres in the female, is on an average
182 millimètres in the male pelvis. The maximum in the female
never attains the last-named figure. The relations between the
maximum vertical diameter and the maximum transverse diameter is
in the female only 0.74, whilst in man it
surpasses 0.79.

All

With regard to the examination of the shape of the pelvis according to race, we feel that we must pass briefly over this part of the subject, which rather appertains to the province of the anthropologist than to that of the teacher of medical anatomy. Dr. Verneau describes carefully the pelves of several races, and points out marks of distinction which may serve in other hands to render less probable and conclusive the broad distinctions of sex which he has drawn, taking the European as a type specimen. It is obvious that a surgeon who e. g. has to diagnose in a case regarding the identity of a pelvis in Australia, China, or South America, has before him the possibility of error if he has merely studied the rough canons of differentiation which are taught in the school of anatomy of England. Yet the rules which Dr. Verneau had so clearly laid down appear not to be invalidated by the further anatomy of the pelvis according to race. A careful examination is given of the pelvis in numerous races. From this examination the author hopes

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that the comparison of pelvic form will be as convenient in time as that of the skull, and will form the foundation one day of the classification of the races of man. On this we have little to say, excepting that there is nothing in the form of the pelvis which would make it less worthy a note whereby to classify as dissimilar and various races than are presented by the texture of the hair or the language. And now that a few scientific men identify Egyptians and Australians, Coreans and Ashantee Negroes, and Easter Islanders with every other race (including those of Thrace) which enlarged the ear-lobes, there is no limit to which the misapplication of human ingenuity may not be expected. Dr. Verneau has, however, placed a number of facts before us in his large and costly volume, with its sixteen plates, for which we thank him.

Diseases of Modern Life.1-When a second edition of a work of this kind is called for within six months of its first publication it may fairly be assumed that it is adapted to the views and wants of those to whom it is addressed; and this being so, the task of the critic becomes wellnigh a work of supererogation. With this persuasion, therefore, we shall accord the treatise only a brief notice. But apart from the above consideration, the book would not call for a lengthened review in a medical journal, for it is especially addressed to the "intelligent public," and consequently has not for its prime purpose the development of truths or the enunciation of facts new to the medical profession. It rather seeks to place before nonmedical readers a selection of facts generally admitted, with the view of awakening their attention to the laws of health and to the most important causes of disease, so that they may learn to obey the former and to avoid the latter. And assuredly the author has admirably used his opportunity and fulfilled his purpose, by forcibly depicting the causes of disease, making clear to his readers the consequences that must ensue on rebellion against the necessary conditions of health.

Indeed, in the ardour of his pursuit it must be admitted that he speaks too much like an oracle, whose conclusions are incontrovertible or infallible; that he dogmatises too vehemently, and that hypotheses are made to serve in the place of verified conclusions. Nevertheless an excuse may be found for all this. He is addressing readers who have not the opportunity of examining for themselves who must be taught by a master, and are willing to sit at the feet of one, and consequently desire to hear no uncertain sound. Moreover, if good is to be effected, if the public attention is to be aroused to the fatal consequences attendant upon luxury and vicious indul

;

1 Diseases of Modern Life. By B. W. RICHARDSON, M.D., F.R.S. Second edition. London, 1876.

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