134 FACIAL AND OCCIPITAL ANGLES. 



longitudinal diameter, (between the frontal spine and longitudi- 

 nal sulcus,) five inches and a half; in its transverse, (between 

 the bases of the petrous portions of the temporal bones,) four 

 and a half; between the parietal fossae five inches, and between 

 the lesser wings of the sphenoid bones, three inches and three- 

 quarters ; in the vertical, from the foramen magnum to the sagit- 

 tal suture, four inches and a half. 



Several plans have also bean adopted, by the cranioscopists, 

 to determine the relative development of the cranium (which 

 is filled with the brain) and that of the face. The best known 

 of these are those of Camper, Daubenton and Cuvier. The 

 facial angle of Camper, is taken by extending a horizontal line 

 from the external auditory meatus, on a line with the floor of 

 the nostril, so as to follow nearly in the direction of the base 

 of the cranium, and by dropping upon this a second from the 

 most prominent part of the forehead to the extremity of the 

 upper jaw. The area between them is the facial angle, and 

 will be the more acute, in direct proportion as the face is devel- 

 oped in front, and the forehead is sloped backwards. This 

 angle is of course larger in man than in any other animal, and 

 varies in size in the different races of men. In a well formed 

 white or Caucasian, it is usually about 80; in the Mongolian 

 about 75 ; in Negroes about 70 ; in the different species of 

 monkeys it varies from 65 to 30. As a test of the intellectual 

 capacity of individuals, it is but little to be relied on. 

 The occipital angle of Daubenton, is formed by drawing two 

 lines, one from the inferior border of the orbit, to the anterior 

 margin of the occipital foramen, the other drawn from the 

 anterior to the posterior border of the occipital foramen, and 

 extended forwards. The angle between the two, is the occipital. 

 As the direction of the occipital foramen depends upon the 

 manner in which the head is articulated with the vertebral 

 column, it will be the larger, the less favorably the animal is 

 constructed for the upright posture. In a well-formed Caucasian 

 skull, it is about 3. In the ox it is about 70. Daubenton 

 has thus done for the posterior part of the head what Camper 

 has done for the anterior. 



