Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/295

250 There are no pronounced indications as to what function the anomalous foramen may have served. The inner walls of the opening are smooth; internally on the shaft there are a low vertical ridge and a parallel shallow depression, as well as numerous small foramina for blood-vessels. The borders of the opening are quite smooth. The surrounding bone shows no trace of any groove or depression.

The interpretation of a large, well developed foramen in such a situation is difficult. Three theories suggest themselves as to its function. The foramen may have served for the transmission of an artery, or a tendon may have passed through it, or it may have lodged some sort of benign growth. No one of these theories is without possible objection. The borders of the foramen are hardly as smooth as they would be had they transmitted some erratic tendon or artery, and outside of its borders there is no trace of any groove such as a large artery or a tendon would produce. As to tumor, there is very little if any excavation or absorption of the walls in the opening, and no thickening of the bone.

The formation must have taken place very early in the life of the individual, as the form of the entire head of the ulna is affected. In all probability the anomaly of the foramen is due to congenital causes.