THE SKULL THE FACIAL ANGLE. 69 



brain, but which form no relief on the outside of the skull. 

 There is no opening in the arch of the skull, but there are 

 several in its base through which the nerves and blood- 

 vessels pass; the most important of these is the foramen 

 magnum, which is the communication between the cavity of 

 the skull and the vertebral canal. 



The skull is oval in form flattened at the base, with the 

 larger end at the back. It is never perfectly symmetri- 

 cal, and differs in shape and size according to age, the in- 

 dividual, and the race. It is larger in proportion in the 

 infant than in the man, and in the white race than in the 

 other races. But whatever may be the varieties which it 

 presents, they appear exclusively in the arch. 



Starting from the principle that the skull is modelled upon 

 the brain, in measuring its dimensions we seek to ascertain that 

 of the organ which it incloses. To attain this object, Camper 

 drew two straight lines, the one starting from the first in- 

 cisors of the upper jaw and passing over the median line of 

 the forehead ; the other starting from the auditory canal and 

 carried horizontally till it encountered the first, formed with 

 it an angle called the facial angle, which is from 80 to 85 

 degrees in the European, 75 in the Mongolian race, and 70 

 in the Negro. This anatomical character, considered as an 

 expression of intelligence, did not escape the notice of the 

 artists of antiquity. The statues which they have bequeathed 

 to us prove this ; among their gods, the facial angle of Jupiter 

 Trophonius, for example, is 90 degrees. 



Daubenton proposed to measure the occipital angle to com- 

 plete the measurement of Camper, which applied only to the 

 anterior portion of the skull; but these angular measure- 

 ments would not give the extent of a solid nor of a cavity; 

 the thickness of the bones at certain points, and the varying 

 development of the cavities or sinuses comprised between 

 the internal and external tables, would take from these 

 measurements much of their signification. In order to be 

 more exact, Cuvier, dividing the head by a section from 

 front to back, compared the area of the skull with that of the 

 face, leaving out the lower jaw: he found that in Europeans, 

 the area of the skull was four times that of the face, and in 



