No. 424.] DIVISION OF THE MALAR BONE. 283 
cases not exceeding oné or two millimeters, in others extending 
to near the middle of the malar, In man they run as a rule in 
an antero-posterior direction, beginning distally from either the 
zygomatic or the malo-maxillary suture. 
The posterior divisions are in the average more pronounced 
and much more frequent than the anterior ones. An ante- 
rior and a posterior partial division may coexist in the same 
bone, and there is a tendency, though there are exceptions, to 
similar divisions on the two malars. 
There is a considerable difference in the frequency of these 
partial malar divisions in different peoples. They are found in 
the adults of both sexes, but grow more rare as age advances ; 
they are, according to my data, somewhat more frequent in 
early than in adult life. 
These malar incisures are well known, but their meaning is 
still somewhat doubtful. Gruber, who was the first to give 
these divisions close attention, considered them as morpho- 
logically distinct from the complete separations. In the words 
of this author (Virek. Arch. Bd. LVII, 1879, p. 117), “os 
sygomaticum bipartitum is a term applied only to that malar 
bone which is fully divided into two portions and persists thus 
divided after the second month of the foetal life, as well as 
after birth ; or to that malar, which was originally fully divided, 
but in which the anomalous suture became later (in adult life), 
in consequence of synostosis, more or less occluded.” ‘When 
[ebid. | in a foetal malar bone, through a hindrance in develop- 
ment (Bildungshemmung), the streaks between the orbital and 
maxillo-zygomatic portion of the bone do not on one or both sides 
ossify, and this defect of ossification persists, in the form of an 
incisure, into advanced age, leaving thus a sort of a sutura men- 
dosa, in that case one evidently cannot speak of a divided malar." 
This apparently clear and rational theory was three years 
later opposed by Virchow.! This author expresses himself 
(p.251) as “inclined to recognize the majority of all malar 
incisures, particularly the posterior Ones, às real remnants of 
an old transverse malar suture"; but (p. 252) “the interpre- 
tation of a posterior incisure will be the more doubtful, the 
higher the situation of the incisure." . - unicus SEL 
