28 INTRODUCTION. 



forehead, and falling thence on the most advancing | art ol the 

 upper jawbone, the head being viewed in profile." This givee the 

 facial angle. For the posterior part of the skull, the occipital 

 may be measured in a similar manner. Though th ementa 



may be sufficient lor the physiognomist, 1 1 1 ■ v are not lor the ■ eome- 

 trician, on account of the varying thickness of the skull, the i 

 opment of the cavities in the forehead, frontal sinuses, and the dif- 

 ferent projection of the teeth, even in adults; and, moreover, they 

 only measure the skull in one part. To obviate th.-, Cuvier pro- 

 posed to compare the areas of the cranium and face sawed vertically 

 from before backwards ; the section of the face is triangular ; that 

 of the cranium an oval. In the Caucasian the area of the cranium 

 is lour times that of the face ; in the Negro the area of the face is 

 one fifth larger. 



To measure the breadth of the skull and the projection of the 

 face, Blumenbach proposed the " norma verticalis." Says he, " The 

 best way of obtaining this end is to place a series of skulls, with 

 the cheek-bones on the same horizontal line, resting on the lower 

 jaws; and then, viewing them from behind, and fixing the eye. on 

 the vertex of each, to mark all the varieties in the shape of parts 

 that contribute most to the national character, whether they consist 

 in the direction of the maxillary and malar bones, in the breadth or 

 larrowness of the oval figure presented by the vertex, or in the 

 flattened or vaulted form of the frontal bone." Thus compared, 

 he makes three varieties in the vertical view, strongly distinguished 

 from each other; the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian. 



In no view does the human skull contrast more strongly with that 

 of the quadrumana, than when its base is examined, as suggested by 

 Mr. Owen. In the orang the antero-posterior diameter of the base 

 is much longer than in man ; the zygomatic arches are situated also 

 quite differently. In all races of men, even in idiots, the whole 

 zygoma is included in the anterior half of the basis cranii, while in 

 the highest monkey it is placed in the middle region of the skull, 

 and occupies about one third of the entire long diameter. The 

 occipital foramen in all the lower animals is further back than in the 

 human head ; in man this foramen is " immediately behind a transverse 

 line dividing the basis cranii into two equal parts, or bisecting the 

 antero-posterior diameter." It is situated exactly alike in all human 

 races, if due allowance be made for the protuberance of the jaws in 

 the lower types. 



In well-formed European heads, lines drawn from the zygomatic 

 arches, touching the temples, and meeting over the forehead, are 

 parallel. J3ut in the pyramidal skull, characterized by great lateral 



