318 FORMS OF THE SKULL. 



That, In compliance with a strange notion of beauty, 

 attempts are made by these people to flatten their fore- 

 heads still further, and that for tliis purpose they subject 

 children's heads to pressure immediately after birth, and 

 continue it for some time, is proved by the most respectable 

 and abundant testimony. In certain crania very unequivocal 

 marks of this process are found; actual Indentations of the 

 forehead, producing a degree of deformity quite different 

 from natural depression of the skull, or from the instances 

 of malformation which are occasionally seen. Some, indeed, 

 have argued that even these are natural forms, and have 

 boldly denied the possibility of producing the effect by such 

 means as those described ^. 



The bones are the most solid parts of our frame, and 

 form a kind of firm support and foundation, on which the 

 softer structures rest. Yet physiological experiments, and 

 the phenomena of disease, prove that they change more 

 easily than the softer parts of the body. Their elements 

 are continually detached and removed in an insensible man- 

 ner by the absorbents; while the loss thus occasioned is 

 repaired by the deposition of other particles newly secreted 

 from the blood. This continual change in the bony mate- 

 rials of the body is well Illustrated by the experiment of 

 mixing madder with the food of animals. Soon after tins 

 has been begun, the bony substance is found of a pink 

 colour throughout ; and this dye is as quickly removed 

 when the madder is no longer administered. The short 

 period in which such changes are brought about, forms a 

 striking contrast to the Indelible nature of the marks pro- 

 duced In the cutis by gunpowder and other colouring mat- 

 ters. The uninterrupted exchange of particles, carried on 

 in the bones from the period of their first formation, allows 



* Sabatier, Traiie d'' Anatomie^i. i. p. 25. Campek in Kleinere Schvifteny 

 V. i. p. IT. Arthauo in Journal dc Physiqucy April 17S9. Dissertation 

 sur la Conformation tie la Tele des Caraibes^ el sur quelques Usages bizarres. 

 attrihuees a des Nations Sauvases. 



