THE HUMAN SKULL 135 



of his skull. Even our popular phraseology is here 

 incorrect, for if the balance inclines either way at 

 all it is against the " long-headed " man and in 

 favour of the " broad-headed." 



A further index, which, being less important, t** 

 will not be dealt with at such length, is the altitu- 

 dinal, that of height to breadth or length. Without 

 going into any minutiae on this subject, it must 

 be quite clear to the most casual observer that 

 some persons have high, some low heads. In the 

 language of craniologists, we have platycephalic 

 or low-headed, hypsicephalic or high-headed, and 

 orthocephalic or medium persons. Here again, 

 within limits, the height of the head has nothing 

 to do with intellectual characters. Within limits, 

 I repeat, because there is a group of skulls called 

 microcephalic, and housing brains of deficient 

 character, in fact the brains of idiots. With this 

 group I am not concerned. Microcephaly is a very 

 interesting subject, and presents us with the im- 

 portant problem still unsolved as to whether 

 the brain stops growing and therefore the skull 

 does not expand but remains small, or whether 

 the prime offender is the skull, which closes its 

 sutures too soon and so prevents the brain from 

 proceeding to its normal development. I must not 

 allow myself to be drawn aside into the interesting 

 points suggested by a consideration of the question 

 of microcephaly, and I will, therefore, guard 

 myself from misconception by stating that in all 

 the remarks which I make with regard to the size 

 and shape of skulls I am dealing only with those 

 which may be regarded as normal for their sex 



