THE FACE 



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two thin plates, one flat, simple, and horizontal, the other more com- 

 plicated and vertical, forming with the first plate an angle of about 

 forty-five degrees. 



The Horizontal, or Palatine, Plate has two surfaces and four 

 borders. 



The lower surface (Figs. 250, 251) prolongs the hard palate back- 

 ward and is irregularly four-sided. The inner or median border is 

 straight and serrated, and joins the opposite palatine, continuing back- 

 ward the straight suture which divides the roof of the mouth into two 



FIG. 249. 



SIDE VIEW. LOWER VIEW. 



POSITION OF LEFT PALATINE BONE. 



symmetrical halves. The posterior end of the median border is 

 prominent, and contributes one-half of the posterior nasal spine. 

 The posterior border is emarginate, and curves into the lower border 

 of the vertical plate. The anterior border is roughened, and bevelled 

 at the expense of the lower surface ; it runs outward and backward, 

 reducing the length of the outer border to almost half the length of 

 the inner border. Its outer part lies close to the lower part of the 

 anterior border of the maxillary process of the vertical plate, and 



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