SCHAAFFHAUSEN ON THE CllANIA OF TIIE ANCIENT EACES OF MAN. 173 



great, that it can hardly be described as limited to the superciliary 

 ridges. Dr. Schaaffhausen appears to regard this extraordinary con- 

 formation as due to an expansion of the frontal sinuses. In this we 

 are not disposed altogether to agree with him ; but as we have had an 

 opportunity, through the kindness of Sir Charles Lyell, of examining 

 only a plaster cast of the cranium, in which the interior is not shown, 

 we, of course, are able to speak but doubtfully on the subject. A main 

 reason for our disagreement with Professor Schaaffhausen arises from 

 the circumstance that a considerable elevation of the same part is often 

 observed in recent crania, more especially, as he states, in those be- 

 longing to savage and barbarous races, in which no extraordinary ex- 

 pansion of the sinuses is found to exist ;* and, secondly, because the 

 frontal sinuses rarely, we believe, extend beyond half the length of 

 the supraorbital border; whilst in many cases — and this is particu- 

 larly evident in the Neanderthal cranium — the elevation is continued 

 to the outer angular process of the frontal bone, which, in that cra- 

 nium, is very remarkably thickened. 



The lateral extent of the frontal sinus, in cases where the superciliary 

 borders are much elevated, is usually imperfectly indicated by an opening 

 or depression, through which the frontal nerve passes ; and this depres- 

 sion is very manifest, especially on the right side, in the fossil cranium, 

 in which it is regarded by Professor Schaaffhausen, we believe erro- 

 neously, as indicative of an injury received during life. In the mature 

 Chimpanzee and Gorilla, the supraorbital ridges are, as is well known, 

 remarkably developed : in the former case, we are not aware that the 

 enlargement is accompanied with any expansion of the frontal sinuses, 

 which in fact do not exist in that ape, but it is due simply to a pro- 

 jection of the margin of the orbit, which, cavity is larger in proportion 

 to the skull behind it, than it is in the human subject, and is thus in 

 accordance with the greater development of the face generally. In the 

 old Gorilla, on the other hand, although the bone itself is enormously 

 thickened in the monstrous projection above the orbit, there are very 

 large frontal sinuses.f However this may be, the protuberance in 

 question must be regarded as showing a very savage type; and, in 

 the extent to which it exists in the Neanderthal cranium, it affords a 

 character in which that skull approaches that of the Gorilla and Chim- 

 panzee. 



Dr. Schaaffhausen appears to have taken considerable pains to in- 



* It may be observed also that a considerable development of the sinuses may coexist 

 with only a moderate elevation of the superciliary region. This is the case in the frag- 

 ment of a cranium represented in PI. V., fig. 6. 



f In order to render the apparent resemblance between the Neanderthal cranium and 

 that of the higher apes the more evident, we have given the outline of a corresponding 

 portion of the skull of a Chimpanzee, in which the third molars are just appearing, and 

 which will serve to show the remarkable similarity in contour, at any rate, between the 

 two. The human cranium, it is hardly necessary to say, is represented half the size of 

 nature, whilst that of the Chimpanzee is but slightly reduced, so as to bring it to the same 

 comparative scale. 



