A CLINICAL STUDY OF THE SKULL. 23 



tected the outlines of the delicate vertical plate of the vomer, the 

 Sphenoidal surfaces of the internal pterygoid processes, the posterior 

 ends of the middle and inferior turbinated bones, and the vault of 

 the pharynx as defined for the most part by the alse of the vomer 

 and the occipital process of the occipital bone. 



In a communication to the American Laryngological Association 

 which I made in 1888 I called attention to a portion of this i-egion 

 which extends from the plane of the posterior nares to the posterior 

 limit of the vomerine al^e, and defined on the side by the internal 

 pterygoid plates, and proposed for it the term posterida. Subse- 

 quent study has confirmed me in the value of this portion of the 

 naso-pharynx being restricted as a distinct clinical region, and I 

 here venture to show the close relation which exists between it and 

 the morbid condition of the interior of tha nasal chamber. I will, 

 in addition, discuss the subject of the basio-cranial angle — that is 

 to say, the clinical interest arising from the angle formed between 

 the posterula on the one part and the inclination of the basilar 

 process of the occipital bone on the other. The separate heads in 

 the description of the posterula include the following: 



The under surfaces of the body of the sphenoid bone. 



The vomer as seen in articulation with the sphenoid and palatal 



bones. 

 The posterior nares or choame. (For note on Clioame see Nasal 

 Chamber.) 



The region of the spheno-turbinals. 



In no other portion of the skull do so many elements combine as 

 in the naso-pharynx. 



The basi-sphenoid and pre-spheuoid here unite. The spheno- 

 turbinals lie in front of the under surface of the sphenoid elements 

 and pass backward a variable distance above the palatals and vagi- 

 nal processes, and forward along the sides of the meso-ethmoid. 

 The vomer articulates with the body of the sphenoid bone. The 

 borders of the alse unite in a variable manner with the sphenoidal 



