Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-09-19
MANI MADE MISTAKE.
Penalties Caused by the Upright
Jf@ Position Are Shown.
crman scientists Point Out the
Heavy Cost to Humanity for
Standing PosItIon-Exper'.
ments Prove Virtue Of Lo-
comotion on All Fours.

Three OF Germany's famous scien-
lists have been making experiments
to prove that humanity makes a great
mistake in walking upright instead OF
on all fours. Thereby. they declare
man brings on himself many physical
evils from which the more sensible
and less aspiring horse and dog are
iree.
When man first stood on his hind
legs he disturbed the whole equili.
brium of his organism; and since then
he has been trying in vain to adapt
his architecture AID organs to his un'
natural carriage. AS he has failed ne
has brought on himself weakness aud
diseased
One of the first to occupy himself
with this question was Prof. Ernst
haekel, the Jena biologist and Oar.
winian. 1t has now been carried
much further by the experiments
which DR.. H. Gerhart has lectured on
at the Berlin University Polyclinical
institute.
DR.. Gerhart placed quadrupeds in
similar position. and observed them.
A typical test was made with fox
terrier. which stood and walked on its
hind legs for seven hours day for
% weeks. The terrier was then conf
pared with an ordinary dog. Examin-
alton showed that the change had rad
ically transformed the terriers anat-
omy. In order to counterbalance the
tendency to fall forward, the dog had
continually bent its spinal column
backward The result was a marked
reformation of the ,vertebrae. Stand
ing upright had also deformed the
thorax and pelvis. The bones OF the
hind legs had bent forward in a way
suggesting ricketts, or degeneration OF
the bone.
The internal organs also showed
changes. The left lung had fallen
slightly; the heart was enlarged ow-
ing to the constant exertion OF stand
ing as biped, and it had turned round
partly on it's axis. The liver, stom-
ach and kidneys had also receded
further from the head. In other
words, the dog had grown closer to
the human type.
Certain penalties caused by the up
right carriage are shown by DR.. Ernest
Kl)tz of Leipzig. 1t was plainly In"
tended. he says, that the spinal COL
umn should be horizontal: and that
all vital and easily injured organs,
such as the heart &nd stomach, should
hang downward from it and be pro-
tected by it. The spinal column.
he says, lis nothing but a roof OF
bone" 1t is not at all intended to
stiffen the body into an upright car
rage. When man went four footed,
with his organs pendent from his spl-
nal column all the organs were IN ex'
s.ctly defined positions as regards one
another.
When he began to 60 upright these
organs tended to sag and fall down.
ward and thus disturbed their func-
tons. This caused many ailments,
Ind particularly digestive complaints,
which no animal suffers from. These
complaints have been cause OF
weakness to man and, instead OF re-
turning to an all four attitude. he has
for millions of years past been trying
10 adapt himself to the new conditions.
But he has not altogether succeeded
and is still suffering from the dis
*urbed equipoise,
Most marked is the fact that the hui
man legs have not adapted themselves
to be mans only support. 1t even
seems that in civilized countries the
ADAPTIVE process has come to a stop
and as a result of the failure of two
legs to do the work of four patologi-
cal reformation of the sole OF the foot
IL going on.
Today man unconsciously bankers
after his lost position Of quadruped.
This is seen by the attitudes he takes
during sleep. Numerous scientific
tests show that the regenerative ef-
5oct of sleep both on body and mind
is greatest when a man sleeps face
downward as do the majority of AMI
mails. Nightmares, sleep drunken
ness" brain pressure" and other alb
normal sleep conditions are never ex-
perienced by man sleeping in this
position. They are caused by the gen.
uine biped attitude of sleeping on the
back. Sleeping on the back with the
limbs outstretched, is SO unnatural
that the lower animals can be tempo
rarily paralyzed by fixing them In that
position. j.:
In short, mans upright carriage.
which he regards as his unique dis
tinction and glory, is merely a psy-
Geological blunder, and it will remain
so until man has perfectly adapted
himself to it. Unluckily, there Is fea'
son to think that the perfect equipoise
will never be attained.