Now, if man has always been erect from his creation--or, if that term be disliked, from his origin--we have evidently nothing to hope from the future in the way of an amendment of this and other defects. But if we have sprung from a quadrupedal animal, and have by degrees adopted an upright position, to which we are as yet imperfectly adapted, the muscular tissues of the abdomen will doubtless in the lapse of ages become strengthened to meet the demand made upon them, so that the liability to rupture will decrease. In like manner the other defects above enumerated may gradually be rendered less serious. A most important point remains; the peritoneal ligaments of the uterus fully subserve suspensory functions. The anterior, posterior, and lateral ligaments are mainly concerned in preventing the gravid uterus, in quadrupeds, from pitching too far forward toward the diaphragm. The round ligaments are utterly unmeaning in the human female, but in the lower animals they serve the same purpose as the other ligaments. Prolapsus uteri, from the erect position and the absence of supports adapted to the position, is thus rendered common, destroying the health and happiness of multitudes. As a simple deduction from mechanical laws, it would readily follow that any animal or race of men which had for the longest time maintained an erect position would have straighter abdomens, wider pelvic brims with contracted pelvic outlets, and that the weight of the spinal column would force the sacrum lower down. This, generally speaking, we find to be the case. In quadrupeds the box-shaped pelvis, which admits of easy parturition, is prevalent. Where the position of the animal is such as to throw the weight of the viscera into the pelvis, the brim necessarily widens, these weighty organs sink lower, and the beads of the thigh-bones acting as fulcra permit the crest of the ilium to be carried outward, while the lower part of the pelvis is at the same time contracted. In the innominate bones of a young child the box-shape exists, while its prominent abdomen resembles that of the gorilla. The gibbon exhibits this iliac expansion through the sitting posture which developed his ischial callosities. Similarly iliac expansion occurs in the chimpanzee. The megatherium had wide iliacal expansions due to its semi-erect habits; but as its weight was in great part supported by the huge tail, and as the fermora rested in acetabula placed far forward, the leverage necessary to contract the lower portion of the pelvis was absent.