490 PROF. B. C. A. WINDLE OK TEEATOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 



he was therefore inclined to attribute the deformity in the palate 

 to a deficient development of the framework of the olfactory organ 

 consequent upon the nervous defect. This view, however, never 

 met with any general acceptance, and M. J. Weber (no mean 

 authority on the subject) states * that he has never seen the olfac- 

 tory nerves absent in any case of fissured palate. According to 

 Dr. Engel, on the other hand, the deformity is due to increased 

 breadth of the anterior portion of the head, caused by a variety 

 of conditions of embryonic life, such as hernia cerebri, dropsy of 

 the third ventricle or of the lateral cornua of the lateral 

 ventricles, or excessive development of the anterior cerebral 

 lobes. Or, in other words, to a purely mechanical disturbance 

 of the relative position of the parts involved. But while ad- 

 mitting the accuracy of Dr. Engel's observations, it is impossible 

 to accept his deductions from them. For cleft-palate is found 

 to occur more frequently in connection with a microcephalic 

 skull than under the conditions quoted by Dr. Engel ; and thus his 

 hypothesis, even if true, would only explain the causation of a 

 limited proportion of cases. It is far more probable, however, 

 that the relations between the two deformities, the cerebral and 

 the palatal, is not one of causation, but one of concurrence, both 

 being common eff'ects of a grave vice in the developmental energy of 

 the fcetus. . . . All, perhaps, that we can safely say on the subject 

 at present is that cleft-palate, hare-lip, and other similar anom- 

 alies of development do frequently occur in conjunction with faulty 

 development of the brain, wliether bilateral or unilateral, hyper- 

 trophic or atrophic ; and it is quite possible that the two kinds of 

 deformity maybe related to each other as cause and eflfect. But 

 the facts that hemicephalic and microcephalic infants are born 

 with perfect palates, while the subjects of palatal deformity are 

 in many cases of high intellectual power, would appear to show 

 that the two deformities are rather the combined effects of a 

 common cause." Again, after speaking of the perfect condition 

 of the palates of ancient and modern uncivilized races, and com- 

 paring their state with that of civilized races, he says : — " We shall 

 be led to the inevitable conclusion that the relation between a 

 high state of civilization and a high proportion of palatal defor- 

 mity is something more than a mere matter of coincidence ; and 

 the strength of such conclusion will not be lessened by the state- 



* Froriep's Notizen, Ed. six. No. 18, S. 282. 



