The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to SexDarwin, Charles
History
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Human beings -- Origin; Sex differences; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Sexual selection in animals
In some of the lower Quadrumana, in the Lemuridae and Carnivora, as
well as in many marsupials, there is a passage near the lower end of
the humerus, called the supra-condyloid foramen, through which the
great nerve of the fore limb and often the great artery pass. Now in
the humerus of man, there is generally a trace of this passage, which
is sometimes fairly well developed, being formed by a depending
hook-like process of bone, completed by a band of ligament. Dr.
Struthers (49. With respect to inheritance, see Dr. Struthers in the
‘Lancet,’ Feb. 15, 1873, and another important paper, ibid. Jan. 24,
1863, p. 83. Dr. Knox, as I am informed, was the first anatomist who
drew attention to this peculiar structure in man; see his ‘Great
Artists and Anatomists,’ p. 63. See also an important memoir on this
process by Dr. Gruber, in the ‘Bulletin de l’Acad. Imp. de St.
Petersbourg,’ tom. xii. 1867, p. 448.), who has closely attended to the
subject, has now shewn that this peculiarity is sometimes inherited, as
it has occurred in a father, and in no less than four out of his seven
children. When present, the great nerve invariably passes through it;
and this clearly indicates that it is the homologue and rudiment of the
supra-condyloid foramen of the lower animals. Prof. Turner estimates,
as he informs me, that it occurs in about one per cent. of recent
skeletons. But if the occasional development of this structure in man
is, as seems probable, due to reversion, it is a return to a very
ancient state of things, because in the higher Quadrumana it is absent.
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