CHAPTER IX. 



THK SKULL. 



THE skull is the term commonly applied to the expanded 

 anterior portion of the axial skeleton situated within the 

 head. 



It consists mainly of the cranium, a strong bony case or 

 frame, enclosing the brain, and affording support and pro- 

 tection to the organs of smell, sight, hearing, and taste, and 

 formed by the close union, either by sutures or by synostosis< 

 of numerous bones. 



To the inferior surface of the cranium are suspended (i) 

 the Mandible, or lower jaw, movably articulated by a syno- 

 vial joint; and (2) a group of skeletal structures called the 

 hyoidean apparatus. 



The diagram at p. 126 is intended to show at a single view 

 the names applied to the various bones of which the skull is 

 composed, and to give some idea of their relative position. 



It will be well to commence the study of the skull by 

 describing that of a Dog, as a good average specimen of the 

 class, and one which is easily procurable at various ages : 

 and the student is strongly advised to follow the descrip- 

 tion with a skull in his hand, or better still, two, in one of 

 which a longitudinal median section has been made. In 

 the other, the various bones should be separated from each 



