THE VERTICAL VIEW, OR BLUMENBACIl'S METHOD. 583 



" Blumenbacli gives the following account of the way of describing 

 heads, which, he says, is the result of his own observations The vertical 

 in a long and constant study of his collections of the skulls menb^ch? 1U ' 

 of different nations : He remarks that the comparison of the method, 

 breadth of the head, particularly of the vertex, points out the principal 

 and most strongly-marked differences in the general configuration of the 

 cranium. He adds that the whole cranium is susceptible of so many va- 

 rieties in its form, the parts which contribute more or less to determine 

 the national character displaying such different proportions and direc- 

 tions, that it is 'impossible t6 subject all these diversities to the measure- 

 ment of any lines or angles. In comparing and arranging skulls accord- 

 ing to the varieties in their shape, it is preferable to survey them in that 

 method which presents at one view the greatest number of characteristic 

 peculiarities. t The best way of obtaining this end is to place a series 

 of skulls with the cheek-bones on the same horizontal line, resting on the 

 lower jaws, and then, viewing them from behind, and fixing the eye on 

 the vertex of each, to mark all the varieties in the shape of parts that 

 contribute most to the national character, whether they consist in the di- 

 rection of the maxillary -and malar bones, in the breadth or narrowness 

 of the oval figure presented by the vertex, or in the flattened or vaulted 

 form of the frontal bone.' " 



By this means of comparison Blumenbach obtains a division of skulls 

 into three classes, the Caucasian, Mongol, and Negro. They are repre- 

 sented in Fig. 286, Fig. 287, Fig. 288, and Dr. Prichard has added to 

 these figures Fig. 289, the artificially elongated skull of an ancient Pe- 

 ruvian, from the burial-places of Titicaca. 



Fig. 286. p- ig , 287. 



3. The basilar view, or Owen's method. 



" No single view of the skull determines so much in regard to its gen- 

 eral configuration as that of the basis. * The importance of The basilar 

 this manner of examining the bony structure of the head view, or Owen's 

 has been demonstrated in the fullest manner by Mr. Owen, 



