THANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 799 



189 mm., and the transverse diameter at the parieto-squamous suture 127 mm., 

 which g-ive.s an index of 07-20 and makea the .skull decidedly dolichocepliaiic. 

 The length of the cranial cavity, however, was 157 mm. and the breadth 121 mm. 

 (an index of 77'07 and a difference of nearly 10 per cent.), so that while from 

 external measurements the skull is distinctly dolichocephalic, the proportions of 

 its cavity are such that it is mesaticephalic. It is probable that many skulls owe 

 their dolichocephalic reputation simply to the prominence of the f,'labella and 

 Bupra-orbital ridges. An excessive development of these structures is also liable to 

 give the erroneous impression of a retreating forehead. In the Australian skull 

 just mentioned the thickness of the cranial wall at the glabella was 22 mm. ; 

 from this level upwai'ds it gradually thinned until 45 mm. above the glabella it 

 was only G mm. thick. When the bisected skull was placed in the horizontal 

 position the anterior surface of the frontal bone sloped from the glabella upwards 

 and distinctly backwards, while the posterior or cerebral surface was inclined 

 upwards and forwards. In fact, the cranial cavity in this region was separated 

 from tlie lower part of the forehead by a wedge-shaped area having its apex 

 upwards and its base below at the glabella. 



The cranial wall opposite the glabella is not appreciably thicker in the 

 Neanderthal calvaria than in the Australian skull to which I have already 

 referred, and the form of the cranial cavity is not more masked by this prominence 

 in the Neanderthal than in many ot the existing races. 



Although the Neanderthal skull is by no means complete, the base of the 

 cranium and the face bones being absent, still those parts of the cranial wall are 

 preserved that are specially related to the portion of the brain which subserves 

 all the higher mental processes. It includes the frontal, parietal, and upper part 

 of the occipital bones, with parts of the roof of the orbits iu front, and of the 

 squamous division of the temporal bones at the sides. On its inner or cranial 

 aspect there are markings by which the boundaries between the cerebrum and the 

 cerebellum can be determined. In a profile view of such a specimen an inio- 

 glabellar line can be drawn which will correspond very closely to the lower 

 boundary of the cerebrum, and indicate a horizontal plane above which the 

 vaulted portion of the skull must have contained nearly the whole of the cerebrum. 



Schwalbe ' has devised a series of measurements to illustrate what lie regards 

 as essential differences between the Neanderthal skull-cap and the corresponding- 

 portion of the human skull. From the inio-glabellar line another is drawn at 

 right angles to the highest part of the vault, and by comparing the length of 

 these two lines we can determine the length-height index. According to Schwalbe 

 this is 40'i iu the Neanderthal, while the minimum iu the human skull is 

 52. He further shows that the frontal portion of the vault, as represented by a 

 glabella-bregmatic line, forms a smaller angle with the base or inio-glabellar line, 

 and that a vertical line from the posterior end of the frontal bone (bregma) cuts 

 the inio-glabellar further back than in the human subject. Professor King, of 

 Galway, attached special importance to the shape and proportions of the parietal 

 bones, and more particularly to the fact that their mesial borders are shorter than 

 the lower or temporal, whereas the reverse is the case in recent man. This 

 feature is obviously related to the defective expansion of the Neanderthal vault, 

 and Professor Schwalbe also attributes considerable significance to this pecu- 

 liaritj. 



Another distinctive feature of the Neanderthal skull is the relation of the 

 orbits to the cranial wall. Schwalbe shows that its brain-case takes a much 

 smaller share in the formation of the roof of the orbit than it does in recent man, 

 and King ])ointed out that a line from the anterior inferior angle of the external 

 orbital jiroceas of the frontal bone, drawn at right angles to the inio-glabellar line, 

 passed iu the Neandertlial in front of the cranial cavity, whereas in man such a 

 line would have a considerable portion of the frontal part of the brain-case anterior 

 to it. 



' ' Ueber die specifischen Merkmale des NeaTiderthalscbildcls,' Ycrhandl. der 

 anatomhchcn GesdUcliaft in Bonn, li'Ol. 



