of Edinburgh, Session 1884-85. 
15 
3. The Relations of the Alveolar form of Cleft Palate to the 
Incisor Teeth and the Intermaxillary Bones. By Prof. 
Wm. Turner, M.B., F.R.S. 
Dr Albrecht of Brussels has recently traversed the well-known 
and generally accepted theory originally advanced by Goethe, that 
in the alveolar form of cleft palate the fissure lies in the plane of 
the suture between the intermaxillary and superior maxillary bones, 
and has suggested, in substitution for this theory, that in the early 
embryo each intermaxilla is divided into an inner mesial bone 
(endognathion) and an outer lateral bone (mesognathion), and that 
the alveolar cleft is an open state of the suture intervening 
between these two divisions. 
In this communication the author discussed Albrect’s theory and 
described the observations which he had made (A) on casts of the 
roof of the mouth in fifteen cases of cleft palate, and (B) of hard 
palates where there was no cleft, with the view of ascertaining their 
bearing on the theory advanced by Albrecht. 
A. For the opportunity of examining these casts, and for informa- 
tion regarding the cases, he has to express obligations to his colleagues, 
Professors Annandale and Chiene ; to Dr John Smith, President 
of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh; Dr Joseph Bell, 
Senior Surgeon, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary ; W. Bowman Macleod^ 
Esq., L.D.S., Dean of the Dental School; and Andrew Wilson, 
Esq., L.D.S., Lecturer on Dental Anatomy, Edinburgh. 
He has also analysed Th. Kolliker’s account of forty-nine prepara- 
tions of cleft palate examined in several' museums in Germany. 
Dr Kolliker’s forty-nine preparations and the fifteen casts ex- 
amined by the author, make in all sixty-four specimens in which 
the relations of the alveolar cleft to the teeth have been definitely 
observed. These specimens resolve themselves into two groups- — a , 
one in which no precanine tooth intervened between the canine and 
the cleft, and in this group were thirteen specimens ; b , one in 
which a precanine was situated between the canine and the cleft, 
and this consisted of fifty-one specimens. Obviously, therefore, 
much the larger number of persons with the alveolar form of cleft 
palate possess a tooth in front of the canine, which is cut off from 
the incisor series of teeth by the gap in the border of the jaw. 
