osteometry; the measurement of the bones 



39 



the more than compensatory advantage of being almost equally deter- 

 minable on the living; that is, the head of a living subject may be set up 

 on the Frankfort horizontal as readily as a skull, and thus the two may 

 be directly compared. It is also the claim of the originators, that this 

 horizontal places a skull more nearly in the usual position during life than 

 do any of the others. 



In order to set a given skull upon one of these horizontals it is first 

 put into a standard known as a craniophore, which consists essentially 

 of two metal jaws controlled by a screw, the whole capable of turning 

 in the three planes. The skull is clamped into this by using either 

 the anterior or the posterior lip of the occipital foramen, and the skull 



—- — C 



Fig. 21. — Skull placed upon the Frankfort horizontal (1884). 



turned in the two vertical planes until the points in question are on the 

 same horizontal plane, i.e., at the same distance above the plane of the 

 table upon which the craniophore rests. To determine this a vertical 

 rod is used, set on a standard, and carrying an adjustible pointer. It 

 is placed on the table with the craniophore, and placed in any position 

 desired, while the skull is adjusted until the pointer, at the same level, 

 points directly to each of the points used in determining the horizontal. 

 A skull, thus placed upon a horizontal, may be considered a cube 

 with its six faces, although with irregular surfaces. The upper and lower 

 faces are parallel to the given horizontal, or to the plane of the table, 

 the two lateral faces are parallel to the median vertical plane, and the 

 anterior and posterior faces are perpendicular to the four others. These 

 four aspects, which are the ones used for comparison, and in the photo- 

 graphy of skulls, are known as nornur, and are as follows: 



