172 SKELETON. 



Those for the eyes and for the nose have been studied, and ar- 

 rest at once the attention of the most superficial inquirer. Im- 

 mediately below the orbits are the canine fossa3 formed in the 

 centre of the front of the upper maxillas. Just above the incisor 

 teeth of these bones are the superior incisive fossae. Below the 

 inferior incisor teeth, on each side, also, is the inferior incisive 

 fossa. 



In most adults the face projects somewhat beyond the crani- 

 um, but there is a considerable diversity in this respect between 

 different tribes of human beings. Camper,* who has paid much 

 attention to this arrangement, has designated it under the term 

 of the facial angle, which he marks off by two straight lines. 

 One is drawn from the lower front part of the frontal bone to 

 the point called the anterior nasal spine at the orifice of the 

 nose, and between the ends of the roots of the incisor teeth of 

 the upper jaw; the other, from this latter point to the middle of 

 the rneatus auditorius externus, or thereabouts. The facial 

 angle is. included between these two lines. In Caucasian, or 

 European heads, this angle is about eighty degrees. In the 

 negro, or Ethiopian, it is about seventy degrees; and in the 

 Mongolian or copper-coloured man, about seventy-five de- 

 grees. 



An invariable relation is established between the extent of 

 the facial angle, the capaciousness of the cranium, and the size 

 of the nasal and palatine cavities. The nearer the approach is 

 to a rectangle, the smaller is the cavity of the nose, and qf the 

 mouth, and the greater is that of the cranium, thereby mani- 

 festing a more voluminous and intellectual brain. On the con- 

 trary, the more acute that the facial angle is, the smaller is the 

 volume of brain, and the larger are the nose and mouth. This 

 is so frequently the case, that Bichat considers it almost a rule 

 in our organization, that the development of the organs of taste 

 and smell, is in an inverse ratio to that of the brain, and con- 

 sequently to the degree of intelligence. \ 



This, like other general rules, is subject to exceptions, in con- 

 sequence of the facial angle varying in its size, from causes 

 which have no connexion with the degree of development of 

 the brain. Thus an unusual prominence and thickness in the 



* Dissertation sur les Differences du Visage chez les Hommes. Utrecht, 179L 



