THE SKULL. 61 



of the skull are a number of irregular linear markings, 

 which are the lines of articulation between the different 

 bones ; they are called the seams or sutures. Three of 

 these have received special names : the coronal, between 

 the frontal and parietal bones ; the sagittal, between the 

 two parietal ; and the lambdoid, between the parietal and 

 occipital bones. Sutures are also named from the bones 

 between which they are placed ; thus, the fronto-parietal, 

 the inter-parietal, the parieto-occipital, the temporo-sphe- 

 noidal, the naso-maxillary, the temporo-maxillary, the 

 maxillo-malar, and others. Some of the sutures are very 

 irregular and deeply dentated ; such are the fronto-pari- 

 etal, the inter-parietal, the parieto-occipital. Others are 

 formed by the beveled edge of one bone resting against 

 the beveled edge of another, as in the anterior part of the 

 temporo-parietal articulation and the spheno-parietal. 

 Some simply abut, as the inter-nasal, inter-maxillary, 

 spheno-occipital (prior to the ossification of the interposed 

 plate of cartilage), part of the spheno-temporal. Some 

 form a groove-and-tongue joint, as is the case with the 

 vomer in its articulations with the palate and the palatine 

 processes of the superior maxillary, and also with the ros- 

 trum of the sphenoid. All the sutures are most marked 

 in early life ; later, some of them undergo ossification, and 

 are thus obscured or altogether obliterated. 



The cranial portion of the skull forms an osseous 

 case, which is ovoidal in shape and contains the brain. 

 Its capacity in the highest (xanthochroic) races is about 

 one hundred cubic inches. As a general rule, the lower 

 the race, the less the capacity of the brain-case. An 

 antero-posterior section of the cranium is oval, the 

 smallest end of the oval being anterior. A transverse 

 section approximates a circle. These sections also 

 exhibit the mechanical construction of the cranium, 



