Daily camera., 1897-12-13
MANS AILMENTS.
Due to His Departure from a Quad
rupedA Position.
So Says a Scientist Who Has Made =
study of the Human Raee-SOne
of tho Changes In Our
Anatomy.

An interesting paper was given at the
three hundred and twenty-eighth cor
Uorate meeting Of the Boston Scientific
society by DR.. Cora Hosnner FlaSg, the
subject of which was the relation OF
mans evolution to his ailments. ut ID
a common idea" said thespeaker, that
the human body is fixed and stable in
its structure and marvelously adapted
to its supposed uses for definite ends.
But all the evidences from compare
tive anatomy emhryology and physiol-
ogy go to show that the ma jority of our
organs are combinations, rearrange-
ments and compromises necessltated by
the accidents Of complexities
Much of this instability is due di-
rect!y to the mechanics of the upright
position and to the fact that the body.
with its quadrupcdal ancestry, has not
get become perfectly adapted to it's new
position. Every region of the body
shows evidences Of this L ,ladaptation.
Some structures are in 4 state Of pro-
gression; that is, they are tending to
more perfect adaptation. Others are
slowly retroEressing, some having even
gone so far as to have gone wholly out
of use. remaining only as vestiges.
The pelvs ard the backbone find
themselves with entirely different du-
les in man from their previous ones in
the Guadrupeds. so that here are es-
pccially marked differences. In the
beasts the pelvis has merely TO bear
the weight Of the end Of the back
Jonc. but in man it has all the weight
Of the trunk and the arms to sustain.
The result is that it has become com
Dlctely bCwl-shaped and is not yet com
pletely adapted TO all its functions so
that it is the origin of numberless in
convenicnces and diseases. In the same
way the backbone in man has assumed
two curves one near the head and the
other near the base. AS another part
Of the adaptation there is the loss of
some ribs and the shortening of the
spinal cord, the latter being the result
of tho loss of the tail. These all mark
weak spots in the human economy, each
of which us known to be responsible for
number of the common ailments of
man.
Many of the ailments quoted by DR..
Flagg were technical in their nature,
but still there were quite number,
like the dwindling away of the tibia,
that are patent to everybody. This
bone. the smaller of the two in the hui
man leg, is equal to its companion in an
imals and shares the work with it. But
in nan in his upright position it is
merely accessory; it has lost strength
and size, and being in an exposed po-
sition, is subject to fracture. In the
same way the position Of the femur is
so changed with reference. to the body
that the weight it must bear not in
frequently results in fracture in its
weak place.
So far as the viscera is concerned.
they are nearly as well adapted to YER
teal as to horizontal position. Some
weaknesses have, however, been devel-
oped, among which may be noted the
vermifcrm appendix, which plays SO
prominent part in modern diseases.
In like manner the speaker went on
% show how other difficulties are the
result of mans erect posture. The
heart, with a greater hydrostatic pres
sure, often fails under its burdens; the
added pressure is responsible for vari-
ccse veins aud similar troubles; the eX-
posing of certain important blood YES
sells, like the arteries of the leg and
arm, is source of danger; canals
which have their offices in the economy
of lower animals become. through dis
use, sources of trouble, tonsilitis being
a malady of such nature. In the brain
t is 4 noticeable fact that the diseases
are more commonly among those con-
volutions which man has added to the
previously existing brain of the ami
mails, and those lobes in which lie the
emotions or instincts common to nearly
all animal life are quite exempt from
disease. The more complex parts of the
brain are affected; hence suicide, which
is the result of thought, is common
among the insane. while they will re-
sist, as any animal would. attempts on
the part of another to do them injury
Boston Transcript.