ARCHITECTURE OF THE SKULL 



13 



plates of lead are interposed to prevent the edges, 

 technically termed arrises, from chipping off or 

 splitting. 



Now apply this principle to the skull. The 

 outer softer tough table, which is like wood, is 

 indented and dovetailed ; the inner glassy table 

 has its edges simply laid in contact. It is morti- 

 fying to see a course of bad reasoning obscure 

 this beautiful subject. They say that the bone 

 growing from its centre, and diverging, shoots its 

 fibres betwixt those which come in an opposite 

 direction; thus making one of the most curious 

 provisions of nature a thing of accident. Is it 

 not enough to ask such reasoners, why there is 

 not a suture on the inside as well as on the out ? 



The junction of the bones of the head gener- 

 ally being thus ex- 

 act, and like the most 

 finished piece of cab- 

 inet work, let us next 



inquire. 



whether 



FIG. 1. 



there be design or 



o 



contrivance shown in 

 the manner in which 



A. The parietal bone. B. The fron- 



each bone is placed t al bone. C. The occipital bone. 



D. The temporal bone. E. The 

 sphenoid bone. 



upon another. 



W h e n we look 

 upon the side of the skull thus, the temporal 

 suture betwixt the bones A and D is formed in 



