54 LECTURE 11. 



unmixed races. The general proportions, however, are the 

 same, and, regard being had to the variations, they will be 

 easily recognised." 



The view from behind best gives the proportion between 

 the height and the breadth of the skull, which is specially 

 important in the estimation of the capacity of the cavity. Not 

 less important is the flattening or roof-shaped form of the 

 vertex, which is best seen from behind. There are heads 

 which tower up, and terminate either in a platform or a pointed 

 roof. We sometimes meet with children in whom skulls of 

 this shape are evidently the result of some morbid process, 

 which, however, does not seem to interfere with the health or 

 intelligence of the individual. In some tribes such " toiver- 

 heads" (pyrgocephali) , are characteristic, and to be regarded 

 as the result of normal formation. There are, also, pyramidal 

 heads, where the parietal planes meet in a point, whether the 

 cranium be viewed from before, behind, or in profile. Prichard 

 obsei-ved that such pyramidal heads are specially prevalent 

 among the nomadic tribes of Asia and America ; but he also 

 included among them, as von Baer justly observes, those 

 peoples in whom the parietal planes do not meet in a point, 

 but in a long ridge, and which might, therefore, be called 

 "rafter-heads" (tectocephali) . It is true, a rafter-shaped head, 

 such as possessed by the Esquimaux, for example, much re- 

 sembles a pyramidal head when viewed in front or behind, 

 because the ridge coincides with the line of sight ; but a view 

 of the side immediately shows the difierence. Unfortunately, 

 von Baer has chosen for this rafter-shaped skull the term 

 cross-shaped, or rhomboidal, which does not appear to me 

 suitable. 



The anterior view of the skull best indicates the relation of 

 the face to the anterior lobes of the brain, as well as the various 

 diameters of the face. The development of the frontal eminences 

 and of the ridges over the eyebrows, the form and position 

 of the orbits, the shape of the nasal apertures, the prominence 

 of the cheekbones — all these proportions appear to be of great 

 importance for the estimation of ethnic peculiarities. 



