By reason of the care with which the bones were collected from the Minisink cemetery, those of the different adult skeletons were kept apart as found and are thus perfectly identifiable as to individuals. Excluding those of adolescents and children, there are present the bones of 32 adult skeletons, and in the majority of cases these are almost complete. Of these 32 individuals, 17 were male and 15 female, thus affording a fair series for comparison.

The bones in general are practically normal and almost free from important anomalies. They indicate people of medium to somewhat above medium stature, and of good though not excessive muscular development. In their morphological features they approximate in many respects the bones of whites, yet differ in numerous interesting particulars.

Although a number of the subjects represented by the skeletal remains were old people, there is an absence of light bones or of other evidences of senility. The proportion of such bones in modern whites is in fact much larger than among any of the Indians, either prehistoric or modern, a fact of considerable physiological importance.

Humerus

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

There are present 46 adult humeri, mostly perfect and almost all paired. The principal measurements of these are given in the following table:

XXXIX.  MUNSEE: HUMERI

The averages are in no way exceptional. Reference to the writer’s report on the Indian skeletal remains from Arkansas and Louisiana[50] will show that the humeri of that collection had practically the same dimensions.

The relation of the average of paired female humeri to that of paired male humeri is as 94.2 to 100, which is somewhat higher than existed among the Arkansas and Louisiana Indians (91.34 for 86 humeri), among Indians in general (91.2 for 602 humeri), and also among whites (91.8 for 2,700 humeri), but is lower than in the American negro (94.6 for 164 humeri). As no error in the sexual identification entered into the present series, the disparity here shown is difficult to explain, except perhaps by the result of some peculiar local occupational differences in the two sexes or a local hereditary multiplication of an individual peculiarity.

The right and left humeri are of practically the same length in the males, while in the females the average of the left bones is slightly inferior to that of the right, as is usual in most Indian tribes and also among the white and other races. The equal length of the arm bones in the males indicates probably a lack of specialized occupation.

The dimensions of the shaft of the humerus at the middle and their percental relation or index are interesting in several respects, as shown by the following data:

XL.  COMPARISON IN DIMENSIONS OF MUNSEE
WITH OTHER RACIAL HUMERI

In the first place it will be seen that although the Munsee arm bones are practically of the same average length as those of the miscellaneous American whites, their strength in both sexes, and especially in the males, is greater in the whites. It will further be noted that the disproportion is especially pronounced in the thickness of the bone, the humerus of whites, both male and female, being the stouter, as a result of which the shaft index is decidedly higher in the whites than in the Indians—the Munsee humerus, in other words, is more platybrachic. Much the same distinction exists between the Munsee humeri and those of the American negro; while on the other hand it will be noted that in this respect there is close harmony between the Munsee and other Indians.

Referring again to the table on page 53, and contrasting the bones of the two sides, it will be observed that the left humerus in both sexes is on the average weaker, though the difference is quite small; also that the shaft index in both sexes is larger on the left side. Exactly the same conditions have been observed by the writer on the several series of arm bones of whites and negroes, and also on other Indians, as are presented in preceding tables, which fact shows that we are dealing with no accidental phenomena. The difference in the index between the two sides is due exclusively to the relatively greater breadth (i. e., the antero-posterior diameter) of the right bone, the thickness of the humerus being very nearly the same on the two sides of the body.

DETAILED OBSERVATIONS

Shape of the shaft.—A number of years ago the writer[51] called attention to the fact that in transverse sections at the middle the long-bones show each a considerable variety in the shape of the shaft, and that these varieties can be reduced for each bone to several distinct types of both functional and racial significance. As to the humeri, the most frequent shapes are the p. c., plano-convex or infantile form; type 1, or ordinary prismatic; type 2, lateral prismatic; and type 4, in which the anterior border is broadened out to a distinct fourth surface.

Among the Munsee the occurrence of shapes was as follows:

XLI.  MUNSEE HUMERI: SHAPE OF SHAFT

The most frequent shape is the ordinary prismatic; the next in frequency is the plano-convex; the lateral prismatic is the least common. The significance of these conditions must be left for future consideration, when our data, especially on the American Indians, are more extensive.

Perforation of the septum.—The septum between the olecranon and coronoid fossæ in Indians often shows a smaller or a larger perforation. The frequency of this developmental anomaly or condition differs from tribe to tribe, and it differs also between the sexes, being as a rule more common in females. In the Munsee male humeri only six instances of such perforation exist, three in right and three in left bones, the total amounting to 22 per cent of the bones. In only one instance is the opening large; in three it is medium; in one small, and in one of pin-point size. In the 29 female humeri which could be examined for this feature the conditions are quite different, the perforation being present in no fewer than 17 cases, or nearly 59 per cent of the bones. Eight of the 17 are right (47 per cent), nine left (53 per cent). As to size of the perforation, one is pin-point, eight small, and eight medium; none is large.

Supracondyloid process.—This process, which in a more or less rudimentary form, and especially in the form of a ridge, is not rare in whites, is very uncommon in the Indians, though even in this race in the majority of humeri some roughness, or even a slight ridge, can be detected in its position. Among the Munsee humeri no specimen shows more than a trace of the anomaly.

The rarity of this process in the Indian is of additional interest from the fact that it seems to be shared by other branches of the yellow-brown race, and also by the blacks; moreover, the process appears to be absent, or nearly so, in the humeri of all known apes. The problem as to why a feature of this nature, which appears clearly to be reversive, should be more common in modern whites than in the more primitive races and even in the anthropoid apes and the lower primates, offers a fruitful field for investigation.

Radius

The total number of radii in condition to be measured is 41, 19 male and 22 female. Taking the paired bones in the males, we find that their length is equal on the two sides, as was very nearly the case with the humeri; in the females the right radius averages slightly longer than the left, again as in the arm bones of this sex. The arms as a whole were therefore of very nearly the same length on the two sides in the males, but the right was generally slightly longer than the left in the females, a condition which in all probability was connected with the relatively greater use of the right hand and arm in the latter sex.

The percental relation between the length of the radius and that of the humerus approximates 79 on both sides in the males and 78 in the females. Indians of other localities show much the same condition, the index approximating in the males 78 on both sides and in the females 77 on both sides. In whites the same index is only 73.6 in the males and 72.8 in the females; while the American negro gave to the writer 77.4 for the male and 76.8 for the female sex. This means that the forearm in the Munsee and in Indians generally is relatively long; it is decidedly longer in relation to the humerus than in the whites, and so far as the Munsee are concerned it is even slightly longer than in the average American negro; and in all the groups it is to a slight extent relatively longer in the males than in the females.

In strength, curvature, and other features the Munsee radii show nothing exceptional. In fact, this bone is of secondary importance in the anthropology of modern races except in its relative proportions.

XLII.  MUNSEE: RADIUS

• LEGEND:
• A = Radio-humeral index (R × 100)/H

Ulna

Like the radius, the Munsee ulna shows nothing specially noteworthy as regards its form. The curvature is moderate, as a rule, and so is the strength of the bone. The dimensions are presented in table XLIII.

As with the other two long-bones of the upper limb, the length of the ulna is practically the same on the two sides in the males, and slightly shorter on the left than on the right in the females.

XLIII.  MUNSEE: ULNA

Femur

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

The total number of adult femora in condition for measurement is 60—33 males, 27 females.

The bones, as a rule, are normally developed and with one exception free from anomalies. The exception is the left femur of male subject no. 285,301, which shows a large spinous process on the mesial border of the bone above the internal condyle (proc. supracondyloideus femoris), as exhibited in plate 23. The linea aspera, while mostly well developed, is in no case exceptionally high. The curvature and torsion show nothing exceptional.

MEASUREMENTS

As this is the most important of the long-bones, a number of measurements besides the length were taken, as indicated below.

The mean bicondylar length of the Munsee femora, taking both sides together, is 45.5 cm. in the males and 42 cm. in the females. Judging from observations on whites and on other Indians, these lengths correspond to the average stature of approximately 167 cm. in the male and 156 cm. in the female Munsee. These figures are very close to those obtained by the help of the well-known Manouvrier and Rochet tables, and may therefore be safely accepted. They show that the Munsee were somewhat above the medium, but not really tall in stature.

XLIV.  MUNSEE: FEMORA

• LEGEND:
• A = Number of bones
• B = Length bicondylar
• C = Length maximum
• D = Number of cases
• E = Humero-Femoral Index (H × 100)/F
• F = Number of cases
• G = Diameter antero-posterior at middle[52] (a)
• H = Diameter lateral at middle[53] (b)
• I = Index of shaft (b × 100/a)
• J = Number of cases
• K = Maximum (c)
• L = Minimum (d)
• M = Platymeric index (d × 100)/c
• N = Diameters at upper flattening

• LEGEND:
• A = Number of bones
• B = Length bicondylar
• C = Length maximum
• D = Number of cases
• E = Humero-Femoral Index (H × 100)/F
• F = Number of cases
• G = Diameter antero-posterior at middle[54] (a)
• H = Diameter lateral at middle[55] (b)
• I = Index of shaft (b × 100)/a
• J = Number of cases
• K = Maximum (c)
• L = Minimum (d)
• M = Platymeric index (d × 100)/c
• N = Diameters at upper flattening

The two lengths of the femur, the bicondylar and the maximum, differ somewhat as a rule in favor of the latter. The difference is due and proportional to the inclination of the axis of the shaft and the development of the internal condyle, and ranges in different individuals from 0.5 mm. to 15 mm. In whites in all the groups studied it is moderate, not reaching 4 mm. in the average. In the American negro (who often has some white blood), the disproportion between the two lengths is slightly higher than in the whites, but additional observations are needed. Among Indians, however, the difference is perceptibly higher than among the whites, and is especially pronounced among the Munsee, where it reaches the average of nearly 5 mm. in the males (taking the mean of the two sides) and 6 mm. in the females. As the Munsee bones are perfectly normal, the explanation of this peculiarity must be sought either in an unusual breadth of the pelvis or in a somewhat greater length of the neck of the femur, and may be connected with some functional characteristic of these people, such as possibly a more than usual prevalence of the habit of squatting.

XLV.  MUNSEE AND OTHER FEMORA:
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE BICONDYLAR
AND MAXIMUM LENGTH OF THE BONES

The difference between the maximum and bicondylar length of the femur in some racial groups averages greater in the females than in the males, while in others the condition is reversed. Among the Munsee the females show the greater difference (6 mm. to slightly less than 5 mm. in the males); but this peculiarity is not shared by other Indian groups. A condition similar to that of the Munsee exists in this respect among the United States whites, where the difference between the two lengths averages 3.8 mm. in the females and only 2.8 mm. in the males; while among the Italians, and to a less extent the negroes, the disproportion is greater in the males (Italians: m. 2.8, f. 2.35 mm; negroes: m. 3.6, f. 3.35 mm.). The excess of the difference in males in these groups was unexpected, the usual impression being that the axis of the female femur is generally more oblique than that of the male; and the more oblique the axis, the greater should be the difference between the bicondylar and maximum length of the bone.

As to the two sides of the body, in the majority of the groups whose femora were studied, greater average differences were found between the two lengths of the bone on the right than on the left; in a few groups, however, such as the Munsee, the United States whites, and the United States negro females, the condition was reversed.

These interesting conditions and exceptions make it probable that an extended special study of the relations of the two femoral lengths would be well repaid by the results.

The relation in bicondylar length of the Munsee female to the male femora is as 92.7 to 100, and practically the same result was obtained in other Indians (92.65 to 100). In United States whites the proportion is as 93 to 100; in American negroes, as 93.1 to 100. These are striking similarities in people so far apart racially.

HUMERO-FEMORAL INDEX

The percental relation in length of the femur to the humerus in the Munsee, the humero-femoral index

approximates in both sexes 72, which is very near the average in human races generally. The similarity of this important relation in different racial groups, as may be seen from the measurements by the writer in the next table, is quite remarkable.

As a rule the humero-femoral index is in both sexes slightly higher on the right than on the left side, and the Munsee form no exception in this particular. As to sex, while in all branches of the whites, as well as in the United States negroes, the male index on both sides is slightly higher, in the Munsee, as well as in other Indians, the index in the male is slightly lower than that in the female. These features are all connected, of course, with the peculiarities of the length of the Indian humerus as well as the femur, outlined in other chapters.

XLVI.  HUMERO-FEMORAL INDEX IN THE MUNSEE
AND IN OTHER RACIAL GROUPS

THE SHAFT

The measurements taken at the middle of the shaft in the Munsee femora indicate generally a moderate development. The mean diameter is smaller in both sexes than it is in ordinary American whites and negroes[56] of the same stature. The same condition, though in a somewhat lesser degree, was observable in the Arkansas and Louisiana Indian femora, and there are reasons to believe that it is common to other Indian tribes, if not general in the race. The whites and negroes used here for comparison are of course those of the working classes, or such as find their way into dissecting rooms.

As to the strength of the femur on the two sides of the body, the difference in the Munsee, as well as in other Indians and racial groups, is very small. However, in the males a slightly higher average mean diameter is seen in the left femur, while in the females the condition is reversed. Curiously the same slight excess in strength of the left femur in the male and of the right in the female is exhibited also by the United States whites, while in the United States negroes, in both sexes, the bones of the two sides are exactly equal, as is shown in the following table:

XLVII.  STRENGTH OF THE FEMUR ON
THE TWO SIDES OF THE BODY

Taking the antero-posterior and lateral diameters at the middle of the shaft separately, we find several more interesting points. The antero-posterior diameter in the Munsee (and the same is true of the United States whites and United States negroes, as will be seen by the following table) is practically equivalent in the right and left femora in the males; but except in the whites it is perceptibly smaller on the left side in the females of all groups. On the other hand, the lateral diameter, excepting in the probably too small male negro series, is invariably larger on the left than on the right side in both males and females. Thus it may be said that the left femur is almost invariably slightly broader on the average than the right, and this especially in the females of probably all racial groups.

These interesting conditions are most clearly shown by the shaft index

which in both sexes and in all the racial subdivisions is higher on the left side.

The index in the Munsee femora is noteworthy in another respect: It is decidedly smaller in both sexes of this group than it is in the American negro and especially in the United States whites. Judging from data on other Indians in the writer’s possession, it seems very probable that the characteristic shown by the Munsee in this regard is common to Indians in general. As may be seen by reference to the figures in the following table, the low shaft index in the Munsee is due entirely to smaller breadth; the Munsee femur is relatively narrower than that of both whites and negroes.

XLVIII.  COMPARISON OF THE PROPORTIONS AND INDEX OF THE SHAFT
OF THE FEMUR AT MIDDLE, IN MUNSEE, WHITES,
AND NEGROES. PAIRED BONES

PLATYMERY

Another anthropologically important region of the femur is the subtrochanteric flattening, which, as well known, has been studied in whites and in other races by Manouvrier and other observers.[57] The flattening in question is situated below the minor trochanter, reaching its maximum at approximately 3 cm. below that point. It yields itself to two measurements, the maximum and the minimum diameter, and the percental relation of the latter to the former constitutes the platymeric index. This index is generally quite high in whites, in whom the flattening is but moderate.

The next table shows the conditions found in this respect with regard to the Munsee, the United States whites, and the United States negroes.

XLIX.  COMPARISON OF THE PROPORTIONS AND INDEX OF
THE SHAFT OF THE FEMUR AT THE SUBTROCHANTERIC
FLATTENING, IN THE MUNSEE, WHITES, AND NEGROES.
PAIRED BONES

It will be observed, in the first place, that at the middle of the shaft the mean of the two diameters at the upper flattening in the Munsee is smaller in both sexes and on both sides than that in either the whites or the negroes, thus indicating that the bone is more slender.

The most striking points brought out by the data are, however, those relating to the degree of the flattening in the subtrochanteric region in the different racial groups. The Munsee femora are decidedly flatter than those of the whites, which in turn are slightly flatter than those of the negro. As a result the platymeric index in the Munsee is considerably below that in both the other races.

Taking the two diameters separately it will be observed that the diameter maximum or breadth is frequently larger in the left than in the right femur. This is true in both sexes among the Munsee and in the white females and negro males. In the white males the measurement is equal on the two sides, and in the negro females it is slightly larger on the right than on the left. In all probability the tendency of the left femur to be slightly broader than the right at the subtrochanteric flattening is quite universal.

The lateral diameter or thickness is also slightly larger in the left femur in nearly all the racial and sex groups, but the excess is less than with the breadth. It is thus evident that the left femur at this point is in general slightly stronger than the right. But, as already indicated, the mean excess in breadth is mostly greater than that in thickness, the result of which in most of the groups is a slightly lower platymeric index on the left side.

As to sexes, the platymeric index in the Munsee is slightly higher on both sides in the females than in the males. This is exceptional for Indians, the condition being usually the reverse. In the United States whites and United States negroes, and in Indian tribes other than the Munsee examined by the writer, the male femur as a rule gives a somewhat higher average index on both sides than the female, indicating that the flattening in the male is of lesser degree.

As to the sides, in the majority of the groups, and particularly in the Munsee, the right platymeric index is slightly higher than the left. In the Arkansas and Louisiana Indians it was very nearly equal on the two sides in both sexes. In the series of United States white males used here for comparison, and in the United States negro females, the right index is higher. Evidently, while the preponderant tendency is for the right platymeric index to be slightly higher than the left, there are not infrequent exceptions, but the differences are not of much importance.

To summarize, it may be stated that at the subtrochanteric flattening the Munsee femur shows a decidedly greater compression than the femora of the United States whites, and especially those of United States negroes; it shows a slightly greater relative flatness in the male than in the female, which is exceptional; and in the majority of cases it is relatively slightly flatter on the left than on the right side of the body.

These details may seem rather involved, and perhaps in some instances of no great consequence. But when at some time we shall be able to examine scores of records where we have now but few, and each series of records extending to hundreds instead of to only tens of specimens, the above points will assume a definite morphological importance, demonstrating on the one side the presence of astonishingly uniform and persistent laws relating even to secondary characteristics of bones, and, on the other, to clear, conspicuous, racial sexual and other group differences.

SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FEMORA

As to special descriptive characteristics of the Munsee femora, special attention was paid to the linea aspera, the shape of the shaft at middle, and the presence and development of the third trochanter.

Linea aspera.—The linea aspera was found to be generally well developed, but seldom high and in no case excessively rough, indicating well but not exceptionally developed musculature.

Shape of the shaft.—As to the shape of the shaft at middle, in a fourth of the males and in nearly half the females this was found to be more or less prismatic, and in 9 per cent of the males and 7.5 per cent of the females, plano-convex; the remainder of the bones showing, with one exception, intermediary or not well-defined shapes. None of the femora present the cylindrical (juvenile) type, or type 4 (anterior surface divided in two by a long vertical ridge), and in but one bone is the shape clearly elliptical. Among the whites the last named (elliptical) form is much more common, while the plano-convex type is less frequent than in the Indians.[58]

Third trochanter.—Respecting the third trochanter, this presents itself as a more or less marked ridge, or an oblong tuberosity, or a round tuberosity; and in any of these forms it may be slight, medium, or pronounced. In some instances there will be found a depression, instead of an elevation, in the bone at or near this locality. These different forms have no separate morphological significance. They all serve for or are due to the attachment of the gluteus maximus muscle, and merge into each other by transitional stages. In the Munsee, conditions in regard to the third trochanter were as follows:

L.  MUNSEE AND WHITE FEMORA: THIRD TROCHANTER
OR GLUTEAL TUBEROSITY

It is here seen that the third trochanter is strictly absent in less than a third of the male as well as of the female bones of the Munsee; a small to pronounced oblong tuberosity exists in 26 per cent of the males, and practically the same proportion (25.5 per cent) of the females, while a rounded tuberosity is found in 6 per cent of the males and in 7 per cent of the females. Among the previously reported Arkansas and Louisiana Indian femora, the frequency of the third trochanter in most of its forms was somewhat greater. Among the ordinary American whites, it will be observed from the above figures, there is in both sexes a more frequent complete absence of the third trochanter in any form than in the Munsee; there is less frequency of the moderate ridge and moderate oblong tuberosity; and a greater frequency of pronounced grades of both ridge and oblong tuberosity, while the occurrence of round tuberosity is about even in the two groups. Subtrochanteric fossa in place of or beside a prominence was observed in Munsee adults in five cases—four males and one female. In adolescents it was more frequent.