A CLINICAL STUDY OP THE SKULL. 75 



The formations as they exist in the sinuses are nodular and appar- 

 ently lead up by easy grades to the ivory-exostoses recognized by 

 the physician as distinctly pathological/ 



ON THE MANNER OF TAKING A CLINICAL NOTE OP THE 



CRANIUM. 



It will be remembered that one of the objects in view in under- 

 taking the study which is now completed was to ascertain the degree 

 of correlation, if any existed, which could be traced between struct- 

 ural peculiarities in the region of the mouth, of the nasal chamber, 

 of the naso-pharynx, and other portions of the cranium. A laryn- 

 gologist has an opportunity of taking measurements in the mouth, 

 throat, and adjacent parts which is withheld from the general ob- 

 server. It goes without saying that for general craniological pur- 

 poses it will be impossible for measurements within the nose and 

 throat to be made. The contrast between any of these regions in 

 patients is so great it was suggested that a series of observations 

 might be of some importance. The following is an example of the 

 kind of measurements which can be secured in the living subject: 



In a woman aged twenty-six, suffering from chronic nasal catarrh, 

 it was found that the distance from the axis tubercle (which is very 

 plainly seen when the velum is lifted) to the cutting edge of the 

 right superior incisor at the median line was 8° 1™""; the distance 

 from the vault of the naso-pharynx to the lower border of the ante- 

 rior nasal aperture, 7° 7™™ ; the distance from the glabella to the 

 post-remal prominence, 18"; the circumference of the head taken 

 on the line of the parietal tubera was 5^:". 



It will be noted in the above that the axo-incisorial measure- 

 ment ends at the edge of the incisor. It is acknowledged that this 

 is undesirable, since the inclination of the teeth is a variable quan- 

 tity. Indeed, any point about the dental arches is subject to the 

 same criticism, but does not apply with any greater force in this 



^ For a general essay on hyperostosis in man and animals see Gervais 

 Journal de Zoologie, 1875, p. 421. 



