Amongst these characters, there are some which have been pointed out in the Negro as indications of animalism. Even M. Pruner Bey, departing in this instance from his general practice, employs this expression, though at the same time restricting its meaning by his explanations. It seems to me much more natural to consider it as a trace of a condition, normal at a certain period, and more or less persistent according to the race.
In fact, the verticality of the ilia, and the increase of the antero-posterior diameter of the pelvis in the Negro, have been chiefly insisted upon as recalling characters which may be observed in mammalia generally, and particularly in apes. But we meet with the same anatomical characteristics strongly pronounced even in the fœtus and children of the White. They, and especially the latter peculiarity, are persistent to the age of seven years or more. Their existence in the Negro is, then, nothing more than relative cessation in the evolution of this region of the skeleton. It is, again, a fœtal or infantile character, and not a character of animalism.
VI. Skeleton of the limbs.—When speaking of fossil races, I pointed out certain morphological characters of the bones of the limbs, and among others, that of the perforation of the olecranon depression. This character may be observed in the Bosjesman, the Guanches, ancient Egyptians, and our own races. It seems to make its appearance in Western Europe with the Quaternary brachycephalic races. M. Dupont met with it in the proportion of thirty per cent. among the men of the Lesse; according to M. Hamy, this proportion is twenty-eight per cent. in the fossil race of Grenelle and only 4·66 per cent. in the present population.
I have already observed that the upper limb is a little longer in the Negro than in the White. The essential cause of this difference, is the relative elongation of the fore-arm. M. Broca, after comparing the radius and humerus of the two races, gives 79·43 for the Negro, and 73·82 for the European. M. Hamy, who had more numerous materials at his disposal, and followed a somewhat different method of measurement, obtained as result 78·04 and 72·19.
This elongation of the radius, relatively greater in the Negro than in the White, is one of the traits to which the expression simian character has been most frequently applied. We know, in fact, that there is less inequality between the two regions of the arm in the anthropomorphous apes than in man, and that in the orang the length of the radius equals that of the humerus.
The researches of M. Hamy enable us to consider this peculiarity of the Negro from an entirely human and truer point of view. This anthropologist has followed the evolution of this limb with a view of obtaining the changes which it involves in the relation under consideration. The following table gives the results of these investigations:
| Embryo of 2½ months | 88·88 | Infants of 1-10 days | 76·20 |
| Fœtus of 3-4 months | 84·09 | ” ” 11-20 days | 74·78 |
| ” ” 4-5 months | 80·42 | ” ” 21-30 days | 74·51 |
| ” ” 5-7 months | 77·68 | ” ” 2 months | 73·03 |
| ” ” 8-9 months | 77·37 | ” ” 6 months to 2 yrs. | 72·46 |
| ” ” 5 months to 13½ yrs. | 72·30 |
We see that in the development of the upper limb in man, there is a constant tendency to diminish the relation in question. We see also that the average of the Negro is almost that of a white fœtus of five months. In his case, therefore, the elongation of the radius may be explained quite naturally by an arrest of evolution, without giving any occasion for comparing him with apes. Under what pretext should we return to the simian theory in connection with this character, after having seen that it is inapplicable in so many others?