28 LECTDEE II. 



not be applied to tlie living body. It is, moreover^ difficult to 

 apply this method, as the explanations are so brief and imper- 

 fect,* notwithstanding the illustrative figures. I, however, give 

 the table and some illustrations, as the method contains the 

 germ of a rational system of measurement, 



A new method of cranial measurement, proposed quite re- 

 cently by Prof. Aeby of Berne, is founded on the use of a 

 base line, the posterior end of which coincides with the central 

 point of the anterior margin of the foramen magnum. The 

 other extremity of this base line must be sought for at the 

 anterior margin of the plate of the ethmoid, which is easily 

 accessible in a skull sawn through longitudinally, but is more 

 difficult to determine in the entire skvll on account of the 

 hidden position of the ethmoid bone. " Externally," says 

 Aeby, " this point generally corresponds with the lower mar- 

 gin of the frontal bone, where it joins the nasal process of the 

 superior maxillary bone ; still it must be borne in mind that 

 the suture in question may remove higher up or lower down in 

 different individuals. The point may be obtained with great 

 certainty by connecting the foramina ethmoidalia by a straight 

 line, and producing it in front until it intersects the suture be- 

 tween the above-mentioned process and the lachrymal bone. 

 Regard must be had to the possibly abnormal course of this 

 suture. Here, then, we have the anterior end of our base line, 

 which embraces the whole space where the cerebral and 

 the facial portion adjoin each other." The base line obtained 

 in this way is produced backwards and forwards, and the whole 

 system of measurement is founded upon it. A plane placed 

 perpendicularly upon it, longitudinally bisecting the skull, is 

 called the median plane, and in this plane various ordinates 

 are measured which run upwards towards the surface of the 

 cerebral portion, or downwards to points of the facial portion 

 of the skull. Upon both the terminal points of the base 



* This is scarcely a fair criticism of Professor Busk's method, which chiefly 

 errs on account of its diffuseness and prolixity. The author does not seem 

 to be acquainted with the tables circulated by Messrs. Quekett and Busk 

 many years ago ; or with Mr. Busk's paper on " A Systematic Mode of Cra- 

 niometry," in Transactions of Ethnological Society, vol. 1, new series, p. 

 341. — Editor. 



