T. D. Stewart

[The age incidence of neural-arch defects in Alaskan natives, considered from the standpoint of etiology].

THE AGE INCIDENCE OF NEURAL-ARCH DEFECTS IN ALASKAN NATIVES, CONSIDERED FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ETIOLOGY T. Stewart; The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery

Form of the Pubic Bone in Neanderthal Man

Shanidar I and III from Iraq have the same peculiar form of pubis as Tabūn I from Palestine. These are the only such pubes known to exist. These facts suggest that Neanderthal man (Shanidar-Tabūn) and an early variety of modern man (Skhūl) coexisted during Mousterian times in this part of the world.

George A. Dorsey's role in the Luetgert case: a significant episode in the history of forensic anthropology.

At the 1976 Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in Washington I gave an invited evening lecture on the history of physical anthropology [1]. Actually, I spoke only about the history of physical anthropology as I saw it reflected in the history of forensic anthropology. Among the pioneers of forensic anthropology in the United States, I included George A. Dorsey (1868–1931), mentioning that while a student at Harvard in the early 1890s he might have known Thomas Dwight, the father of forensic anthropology in the United States, and that after joining the staff of the Field Columbian Museum in 1896 he served as an expert witness for the prosecution in the sensational Luetgert murder trials in Chicago. Unfortunately, on the basis of the limited information about these trials available to me in 1976, I misjudged the nature of Dorseys testimony and made the mistake of saying that he “tripped up badly in the process.” Since this error did not get corrected before the paper appeared in print, I would like to set the record straight.

Pioneer Contributions of Harris Hawthorne Wilder, Ph.D., To Forensic Sciences

In his youth Harris Hawthorne Wilder developed interests in both zoology and human anatomy. Following graduate study in Germany (1886-1891), he was appointed professor of zoology at Smith College but retained his dual interests throughout his career. As a result, he was instrumental in introducing to American audiences two new European developments in human identification; dermatoglyphics and face reconstruction on skulls. The details of his contributions in these two areas, summarized here, establish him as an important pioneer in American forensic sciences.

Responses of the Human Skeleton to Changes in the Quality of Life

Americans have been getting taller for more than a century, and within this century their life expectancy has risen markedly. Descendants of some of the immigrants who arrived from Europe early in this century have heads with shapes that differ from those of relatives back in the Old World. Before they were born head shape was assumed to be one of mankinds most stable features. These examples of population change reflect the fact that in America the quality of life has improved more rapidly and widely than elsewhere. Forensic anthropologists have been adjusting their identification techniques to compensate for these population changes. Among other things, they have used data collected in connection with the military programs to repatriate the American dead of World War II and the Korean War.

A Tribute to the French Forensic Anthropologist Georges Fully (1926–1973)

Five years ago, when Clyde Snow read a paper at the Dallas meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences on the Fully-Pineau method of stature estimation [1], none of those present was aware that Georges Fully had been dead for eight months. His death was still unknown to those at last years Academy meeting in St. Louis who heard Gary Tibbetts talk about the application of the Fully-Pineau method of stature estimation to American blacks [2]. I received the sad news of Fullys death in a letter from Professor Georges Olivier of the University of Paris a month after the St. Louis meeting, and did not learn about the tragic circumstances of the event until last June, almost exactly five years after their occurrence. At the time of his death Fully was only 47 years old.