Can the existence of a tendency to change in the form of the skeleton of the parent result in the actuality of that change in the offspring? / by W. Arbuthnot Lane.

  • Lane, William Arbuthnot, 1856-1943.
Date:
[1888]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Can the existence of a tendency to change in the form of the skeleton of the parent result in the actuality of that change in the offspring? / by W. Arbuthnot Lane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    12/12 (page 224)
    directions, and that in either case the manner in which they are produced is purely mechanical. I might remind the reader that in a preceding paper I showed from the measurement of many human skulls that a considerable and variable asymmetry of this portion of the skeleton was very frequently present. In a very large pro- portion the left side of the skull was larger than the right, and in a small minority the left half was smaller than the right. I ascribed this to the increased experience which the right side of the body has acquired as compared to the left. In cases of apparently considerable asymmetry, it seemed to me that the skull was balanced by being placed somewhat obliquely upon the articular surfaces of the atlas. We have only got to determine more accurately the manner in which the several component parts of the body respond mechanically to changing surroundings, and we will be able to explain not only the variations which exist between the forms of the skulls and other portions of the skeleton of different human races, but also the transition of the simian to the human type.