E. a. 495. A skeleton, much deformed by rickets. The
preparation is, perhaps, unique. The individual, a female,
had passed middle age. The spine, pelvis, and thorax, are
the parts chiefly implicated. The head is good, and the
bones of the limbs well shapen, and of the ordinary length,
though much attenuated.. The skeleton is placed in the
sitting posture, with the pelvis and feet on the same horizontal
plane,—the every day posture of the woman, during
life. Thus seated, the skeleton measures eighteen inches
from the top of the head to the os coxygis; and fourteen
inches from the knees to the back. The thigh bones, and the
bones of the legs, stand upright and parallel to each other,—
the knees being the highest points, and the feet placed flat on
the ground. The spine is singularly distorted by zig-zag,
lateral curvatures : the convexity of the lowermost curvature
looks to the left; the others, three in number, are so regular,
that the proper level of the scapula, and the forward inclination
of the face, are preserved. In addition, the spine is
bent forwards, especially in the dorsal region, to nearly half
a circle—shortening the body so much, that the chin finds a
resting place on the knees; and the occiput on the lower part
of the back: the chest is flattened, laterally, so as not to
exceed, in its widest part, three inches : the sternum, which is
turned to the left, approaches within two inches of the ossa
pubis : the scapulae are curiously formed in adaptation to the
peculiar state of the chest; they are long, thin, and hook-like,
as if curved to the form of the body ; the pelvis is small, and
deformed, in a manner to show that both rickets and mollities
had been at work in the disfigurement. Measurements : Inlet,
conjugate 2| inches ; transverse 3 ; oblique 2§ : Outlet, anteroposterior
3; transverse 1 j : distance between anterior iliac
spines 5 |; acetabula 3 inches. Unfortunately, nothing is recorded
regarding the history of the individual, of whom this
singular skeleton constitutes the only memorial.
*E a. 496. The skeleton of an aged woman, distorted by
rickets. With the exception of the cranium, which is large and
intellectual, every bone in the body is, more or less, deformed.
The height of the body, and it stands well upright, is four feet.
The cervical vertebrae are large, and give a remarkable appearance
of length to the neck: the bodies of several are anchy-
losed. The dorsal and lumbar vertebrae are thrown into
several lateral curves—the convexity of that in the loins
being much the greatest and turned to the left. At this
point, too, the lumbar vertebrae are bowed forwards, and
the sacrum and pelvis thrown back, in a manner which
maintains well the erect posture of the body. The concavities
of the curves are fortified by growths of bone, of such a
size, as to constitute actual exostoses. The ribs and sternum,
though thrown very much awry, make, nevertheless, a good
sized chest. Measurements of pelvis: Inlet, conjugate If
inches; transverse 5 ; oblique 4j : Outlet, antero-poste-
fior 3 f; transverse 4f. The pelvic bones are hard, and
rugged, and furnished with all the ordinary appurtenances
of bone: there is nothing, whatever, of the character of
mollities about them: they had been mis-shapen in infancy,
and retained in after-life the bad forms then acquired. The
bones of the lower extremities exhibit the ordinary deformities
of rickets: the thigh bones are bent forwards and
outwards, and flattened laterally: they are also extremely
short. The tibiae and fibulae are bowed inwards, and forwards
; the bendings of these bones being so much greater
on the left side over that on the right, that the left leg is
short, by three inches. The clavicles are deformed principally
at the outer end: they appear, elsewhere, perfect; but
here, the external curve becomes, suddenly, very acute. The
scapulae are short, but fairly formed : the bones of the arm and
fore-arm are healthy in condition ; but, nevertheless, they are
crooked, stumpy, and inelegant: the fingers were good, and
by them, the poor woman earned her livelihood.