THE CRANIUM AND FACE. 55 



zontal plate, and it is these last that by their juncture 

 form the hard palate. Oftentimes in cases of hare-lip 

 clejt palate also occurs, the result of incomplete develop- 

 ment. To remedy the consequent opening in the roof 

 of the mouth, which makes articulation difficult, opera- 

 tion is generally resorted to, though sometimes a plate 

 is fitted over the opening by a dentist. 



The nasal bones are two small oblong bones which 

 articulate with the frontal and superior maxillary bones 

 and with each other. They form the bridge of the nose, 

 the rest of the nose being wholly of cartilage, except 

 for the vomer, a bone shaped like a plough-share, which 

 forms part of the nasal septum, articulating along its 

 anterior edge with the ethmoid and the triangular 

 cartilage. 



The two inferior turbinated bones lie along the outer 

 walls of the nasal fossa?. They are thin scroll-like bones 

 covered with mucous membrane and serve to heat the 

 air as it passes in. Sometimes when one has a cold, the 

 membrane and the bone too swell up and close the nares. 

 Loss of the sense of smell in a bad cold may be due to 

 such swelling and the consequent impeding of the en- 

 trance of odoriferous particles a condition that would 

 likewise interfere with the sense of taste. Part of the 

 bone is sometimes removed, to enlarge the passage, 

 enough being left to warm the air. 



Lastly, there is the inferior maxillary bone or lower jaw. 

 This has a horseshoe-shaped body and two rami, one at 

 either end. Each ramus has a pointed process in front 

 called the coronoid process, into which is inserted the 

 temporal muscle. At the back, and separated from the 

 coronoid process by the sigmoid notch, is the condyle, 

 which articulates with the glenoid fossa on the temporal 

 bone. The rami also give attachment to the masseter 

 muscle at its point of insertion. In adult age the ramus 

 is almost vertical but in old age the portion of the jaw 

 hollowed out into alveoli for the teeth becomes absorbed 

 and the angle of the jaw becomes very obtuse. On the 



