THE SKELETON 



68 



Only very rarely and then, as a rule, in the lower races of 

 mankind (Negroes and Australian aborigines) does it remain 

 distinct throughout its whole extent in later years, in otherwise 

 normal skulls. The striking manner in which the original 

 independence of the premaxillary bones is shown in people 

 affected with the deformity known as hare-lip is well known. 



The number of incisors connected with the premaxillary will be con- 

 sidered later in dealing with the buccal cavity. It may here, however, 

 be remarked that Comparative Anatomy affords no explanation of the double 

 nature ascribed by Albrecht to each half of the human intermaxillary bone. 



Quite recently Waldeyer has drawn attention to certain 

 peculiarities of the hard palate, i.e. variations in the posterior 



FIG. 44. THE HARD PALATE, A, OF A CAUCASIAN ; B, OF THE NEGRO ; C, OF AN ADULT 

 ORANG-UTAN. Showing the differences in shape of the bones. The palate of the 

 Negro represents a type transitional between that of the Caucasian and that of the 

 Orang. 



nasal spine, which had previously escaped recognition, and I 

 have confirmed his observations. This spine (Fig. 44) is deriva- 

 tive of the horizontal plates of the palatine bones (pl.\ and is thus 

 morph ologically paired. Not infrequently a more or less marked 

 double spine is found, and where this is most evident the hori- 

 zontal plates of the palatines may sometimes not even meet in 

 the middle line. In the latter case the palatine processes of the 

 maxillae may run back along opposite sides of the middle line, so 

 as to take part in the formation of the posterior edge of the hard 

 palate. These deviations from the normal arrangement have 

 been observed in the skulls of Men and Gorillas. 



There are further interesting variations in the relative 

 positions of the palatine bone and the palatine process of .-the 



