ANATOMICAL MEASUREMENTS. 253 



(not represented in the diagram,) and the sliding parts of the anterior limb are 

 fixed by screws (as seen on each side of A) whenever the instrument is properly 

 adjusted. With this apparatus the facial angle of any skull may be ascertained 

 with exactness in the brief space of two or three minutes. 



Internal capacity. — An ingenious mode of taking this measurement was 

 devised by Mr. Phillips, viz : a tin cylinder was provided about two inches and 

 three-fourths in diameter, and two feet two inches high, standing on a foot, and 

 banded with swelled hoops about two inches apart, and firmly soldered, to prevent 

 accidental flattening. — A glass tube hermetically sealed at one end, was cut off 

 so as to hold exactly five cubic inches of water by weight, at 60° Fahrenheit. A 

 float of light wood, well varnished, two and a quarter inches in diameter, with a 

 slender rod of the same material fixed in its centre, was dropped into the tin 

 cylinder ; then five cubic inches of water, measured in the glass tube, were poured 

 into the cylinder, and the point at which the rod on the float stood above the top 

 of the cylinder, was marked with the edge of a file laid across its top ; and the 

 successive graduations on the float-rod, indicating five cubic inches each, were 

 obtained by pouring five cubic inches from the glass tube gradatim^ and marking 

 each rise on the float-rod. The graduations thus ascertained, were transferred to 

 a mahogany rod fitted with a flat foot, and these subdivided, with compasses for 

 the cubic inches and parts. In order to measure the capacity of a cranium, the 

 foramina were first stopped with cotton, and the cavity was then filled with 

 white pepper seed^ poured into the foramen magnum until it reached the surface, 

 and pressed down with the finger until the skull would receive no more. The 

 contents were then transferred to the tin cylinder, which was well shaken in order 

 to pack the seed. The mahogany rod being then dropped down with its foot 

 resting on thS seed, the capacity of the cranium in cubic inches is at once read off* 

 on it. 



Nearly all the preceding measurements were taken with my own hands. 



Coronal^ sub-coronal^ anterior and posterior chambers of the cranium, — An 

 apparatus was devised by my friend Mr. Phillips to obtain these capacities, which 



* White pepper seed was selected on account of its spherical form, its hardness, and the equal 

 size of the grains. It was also sifted to render the equality still greater. 

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