A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE SCOTTISH SKULL. 



447 



Table LIII. 





Turner's 



Series. 



Present Scottish Series (98). 



Character. 

























Mean. 



Mean. 



S.D. 



V. 



Basi-occipital sphenoid axis 



65 mm. (5) 



66-21 



3-41 



5-15 



Sphenomaxillary line . 









74 



, (5) 



75-39 



4-34 



5-75 



Cribriform axis 











29 



. (5) 



23-74 



3-22 



13-56 



Basi-lamhda line . 











118-6 





120-58 



4-58 



4-00 



Perpendicular radius 











138 



^ 



135-85 



5-28 



3-88 



Basi-bregmatic length . 











136-2 





133-7 



5-47 



4-09 



Basi-glabellar length 











111 



1 



107-57 



4-183 



3-88 



Basi-nasal length . 











103 



, (5) 



10096 



4-113 



4-073 



Basi-alveolar length 











95-4 



, (5) 



94-87 



4-76 



5-01 



Anterior pole distance from perpendicular radius 



88 



, (5) 



84-88 



6-91 



8-14 



Posterior ., ,, ,, 



81 



, (5) 



84-61 



5-32 



6-28 



Sir William Turner, in his investigation into the characters exhibited on the 

 median sagittal section of some specimens from his series of Scottish skulls, pointed 

 out that in them the distance from the perpendicular radius to the anterior pole of 

 the cranial cavity was greater than that from the corresponding radius to the 

 posterior pole of the cavity in all the skulls examined. He points out further 

 that the two distances were more nearly equal in the brachycephalic than in the 

 dolichocephalic specimens, and that he found the posterior pole distance greater 

 than the anterior pole distance in the dolichocephalic Fuegian and other dolicho- 

 cephalic skulls described in his " Challenger" Reports, while in the brachycephalic and 

 mesaticephalic specimens from the same groups the contrary was the case. It would 

 seem, therefore, he says, " as if in the formation of some dolichocephalic skulls the 

 growth takes place backwards behind the plane indicated by the perpendicular 

 radius to a greater extent than in front of the plane." 



In the series of 98 Scottish skulls I have examined which are dolichocephalic 

 (C.I., 74'4) the mean value of the posterior distance was practically equal to that of 

 the anterior distance, while the latter length was more variable than the former, as 

 shown by the coefficient of variability. 



As regards the individual skulls, we find that the distance from the perpendicular 

 radius to the posterior pole was greater than that to the anterior pole of the cranial 

 cavity in 44 cases and the distances were exactly equal in 4 cases, which, taken 

 together, is just less than half the number of the specimens examined. 



There are other features of the skulls which only become obvious after a sagittal 

 section has been made, and these include the extent and great variability in the 

 degree of development of the various sinuses, especially the sphenoidal and frontal. 

 They are seen to vary very much in extent, in the case of the latter from almost or 

 even complete absence to a condition where it extends upwards in a well-marked 



