Evening star., 1939-12-19
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henri.

The shape of the head and the posi-
tions Of the ears and eyes of children
change markedly during the first few
years of life, it was reported here today
by DR.. Charles B. Davenport, biologist Of
the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Some months before birth, DR.. Daven-
port reported, the eyes of human being
are on the sides of the head. BY the
time child is born they have migrated
to the front so that it is possible to look
forward and to focus them on an object
IN front of the face. The process is not
completed then, DR.. Davenport has found
by face measurements of hundreds of
children. There remains migration of
about eight degrees to be accomplished
before adolescence.
Another feature which undergoes
marked development during childhood,
DR.. Davenport found, is the length of
the head behind the ears relative to that
in front of the ears. The proportionate
amount behind the ear, he found.
reaches maximum during the first few
months after birth, tends to decrease
until about the thirtieth month of life.
then increases temporarily to about the
fourth year, and thereafter decreases
again until adolescence. These changes
he said, are due in part to migrations of
the ear opening itself, which tends to
move backward and downward through
out the period of childhood
The most marked changes in the
childs face, DR.. Davenport said, are due
mostly to the enlargement of the mixil-
larry sinus and the cutting of the teeth,
especially the molars. The features be-
come increased both in width and height.
and the jaws take on greater promi-
nence.
While the changes are common to all
children, DR.. Davenport reported, the
pattern tends to run in families. He
found that the exact dimensions of the
variations within a family were much
more alike from individual to individual
than when the children of two families
were compared
An hitherto unknown sex difference
IN human beings and all the higher
prlmates was reported today by Dr., A. H
Schultz of the Division of Animal Bio
logy of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington.
The spines of the two sexes he found.
are built on a different structural prin-
ciple. The backbone with the ribs at
tached to it is divided by anatomists into
three sections-the cervical or neck
region, the thoracic or lung region, and
the lumbar or lower area.
For individuals Of both sexes of the
same height and build, he found, men
and male apes always have slightly
longer cervical and thoracic sections and
slightly shorter lumbar sections than
the females. While the difference is
so Slight that it has escaped observation.
DR.. Schultz explains, it is constant
through the entire primate race of which
human beings are the highest develop
ment. The three sections are differen-
uated by the regions of the body served
by nerves originating in them.
The relative lengths of the spinal sec
tions, DR.. Schultz found, also NAV be
considered as an index of the evolution
OF the species. Comparing gorilla, CHM
panzee, orang-outan and gibbon with
the lower monkeys, he said, it is clear
that the higher species have longer
thoracic and cervical sections and
shorter lumbar sections. This develop
ment has been part of their ascent out of
the general monkey family
Human beings have by far the longest
thoracic and cervical sections relative to
stature, and also by far the longest lum-
bar sections. Thus it appears that they
have not kept up with their nearest
relatives in the animal kingdom in this
respect.
Man" says the Carnegie report of
the discovery, "hangs his socks on one
part of the ancestral tree and his waist
coat on another"
The very respect in which human be-
lngs are backward as evolving animals
is also the respect in which women might
be considered more backward than men
and female apes than their mates. The
difference, however, is not considered
necessarily an evolutionary difference
between the physical structure of the
two sexes.
The lengths of the spine sections, DR..
Schultz found, do not necessarily have
anything to do with the number of ribs
attached to them.
LAS between families" he says, "there
appears to be no correlations between
these two factors, but within a species
the reduction in the number of vertebrae
is accompanied by some decrease in the
relative length, although not necessarily
proportional to the loss of vertebrae."
Human disease reported to have been
due to advances of civilization, DR..
Schultz found from his studies of apes,
have more than their due representation
among these close relatives of man who
have no doctors or dentists to take care
of them
1t is prevalent opinion, DR.. Schultz
says. that dental troubles are restricted
to the human family. He found many
cases of impacted and congenitally lack
ing teeth and lot of examples of broken
bones which set of their own accord.
Among lib wild adult gibbons, he says,
there were AZ with healed bone frac-
lures. Sixteen of them had suffered