4 66 
BONES OF THE FACE. 
620. The face is formed by the union of fourteen bones ; 
and presents five large cavities, which serve for the lodgment 
and protection of the organs of sight, smell, and taste. All 
the bones of the face, with the exception of the lower jaw, are 
completely immovable, and are firmly united to each other 
and to the bones of the cranium (§ 617). The two principal 
are the superior maxillary (m s, fig. 220), which form nearly 
the whole of the upper jaw, and are connected with the 
frontal bone in such a manner as to contribute to the forma¬ 
tion of the orbital cavities in which the eye is lodged, and of 
the nasal cavities which form the interior of the nose ; they 
also constitute the front of the roof of the mouth; on the 
sides of the face, they articulate with the malar or cheek- bones 
j ; whilst they are united behind with the palate-bones which 
form the back part of the roof of the mouth, and which in 
their turn are united to the sphenoid. 
621. The orbits, as we have already seen (§ 538), are two 
deep cavities, of a conical form,—the base of the cone being 
directed forwards, and its apex or point backwards; the roof 
of these cavities is formed by a portion of the frontal bone, 
and their floor chiefly by the superior maxillary. Their 
inside wall is formed by the ethmoid bone, and by the small 
bone termed the lachrymal, in which is the canal for the 
passage of the tears into the nose (§ 541); and the outside 
wall is formed partly by the cheek-bone and partly by the 
sphenoid,—the latter also bounding the cavity at its deepest 
part, and containing the apertures which serve for the passage 
of the optic and other nerves that enter the orbit from the 
cranium. In the roof of the orbit, on its outer side, there is 
a broad shallow pit or depression, in which the lachrymal 
gland is lodged. 
622. The greater part of the nose is formed by cartilages; 
so that, in the bony skull, the anterior opening of the nasal 
cavity (n a, fig. 220) is very large; and the bony portion of 
the nose, formed by the two small bones (n) termed nasal , 
projects but slightly. The nasal cavity, divided in the middle 
by a vertical partition into two fossce or excavations, is very 
extensive (§ 506); at the upper part it is hollowed-out into 
the ethmoid bone, the whole interior of which is made-up of 
large cells; its floor is formed by the arch of the palate, 
which separates it from the mouth; behind it extends as far 
