ARCHITECTURE OF THE SKULL 11 



contact with the ground are thicker, whilst the 

 shock is dispersed towards the sutures (the seams 

 or joinings of the pieces), which are still loose. 

 But when, with advancing years, something tells 

 us to give up feats of activity, and falls are less 

 frequent, the bones lose that nature which would 

 render concussion harmless, and at length the 

 timidity of age teaches man that his structure is 

 no longer adapted to active life. 



We must understand the necessity of the double 

 layer of the skull, in order to comprehend an- 

 other very curious contrivance. The sutures are 

 the hues of union of the several bones which 

 form the cranium, 1 and surround and protect the 

 brain. These lines of union are called sutures 

 (from the Latin word for sewing), because they 

 resemble seams. If a workman were to inspect 

 the joining of two of the bones of the cranium, 

 he would admire the minute dovetailing by which 

 one portion of the bone is inserted into, and sur- 

 rounded by, the other, whilst that other pushes 

 its processes or juttings out between those of the 

 first in the same manner, and the fibres of the two 

 bones are thus interlaced, as you might interlace 

 your fingers. But when you look to the internal 



1 Cranium, from a Greek word signifying a helmet. The cra- 

 nium is the division of the skull appropriated to the protection 

 of the brain ; it consists of six bones the frontal (or forehead) ; 

 two parietal (walls or side bones) ; the occipital (back of the 

 head) ; and two temporal (or temple) bones. 



