466 BONES OP THE FACE. 



620. The face is formed by the union of fourteen bones ; 

 and presents five large cavities, which serve for the lodgment 

 and protection of the organs of sight, smell, and taste. All 

 the bones of the face, with the exception of the lower jaw, are 

 completely immovable, and are firmly united to each other 

 and to the bones of the cranium ( 617). The two principal 

 are the superior maxillary (m s, fig. 220), which, form nearly 

 the whole of the upper jaw, and are connected with the 

 frontal bone in such a manner as to contribute to the forma- 

 tion of the orbital cavities in which the eye is lodged, and of 

 the nasal cavities which form the interior of the nose ; they 

 also constitute the front of the roof of the mouth ; on the 

 sides of the face, they articulate with the malar or cAee^-bones 

 j \ whilst they are united behind with the palate-bones which 

 form the back part of the roof of the mouth, and which in 

 their turn are united to the sphenoid. 



621. The orbits, as we have already seen ( 538), are two 

 deep cavities, of a conical form, the base of the cone being 

 directed forwards, and its apex or point backwards ; the roof 

 of these cavities is formed by a portion of the frontal bone, 

 and their floor chiefly by the superior maxillary. Their 

 inside wall is formed by the ethmoid bone, and by the small 

 bone termed the lachrymal, in which is the canal for the 

 passage of the tears into the nose ( 541) ; and the outside 

 wall is formed partly by the cheek-bone and partly by the 

 sphenoid, the latter also bounding the cavity at its deepest 

 part, and containing the apertures which serve for the passage 

 of the optic and other nerves that enter the orbit from the 

 cranium. In the roof of the orbit, on its outer side, there is 

 a broad shallow pit or depression, in which the lachrymal 

 gland is lodged. 



622. The greater part of the nose is formed by cartilages ; 

 so that, in the bony skull, the anterior opening of the nasal 

 cavity (n a, fig. 220) is very large ; and the bony portion of 

 the nose, formed by the two small bones (n) termed nasal, 

 projects but slightly. The nasal cavity, divided in the middle 

 by a vertical partition into two fossce or excavations, is very 

 extensive ( 506) ; at the upper part it is hollowed-out into 

 the ethmoid bone, the whole interior of which is made-up of 

 large cells ; its floor is formed by the arch of the palate, 

 which separates it from the mouth ; behind it extends as far 



