HEADS IN PROFILE 395 
with the basal parts of the skull, that Dr Smith Woodward 
has given the occipital bone an impossible position, thus 
contracting the posterior end of the skull. At the lower 
end of the occipital fragment of the Piltdown skull the 
posterior margin of the opening or passage for the exit 
of the spinal cord from the skull — the foramen magnum — 
is distinctly preserved in the Piltdown fragment. Now, 
even in modern and highly evolved human skulls the 
posterior margin of this opening lies between 30 and 40 
mm. behind aline passing vertically through the ear-hole. 
In Dr Smith Woodward's reconstruction this margin is 
only 2 1 mm, behind the ear line (see fig. 1 86, p. 494). One 
result of the misplacement of the occipital bone is to shorten 
the base of the Piltdown skull so much that the space for a 
pharynx — the passage-way for air and food — is almost 
obliterated. The position of the occipital bone is in reality 
clearly indicated. When we transpose the occipital frag- 
ment, described in a former chapter, from the right to 
the left side (fig. 142), and articulate it with the hinder 
margin of the left parietal bone, we obtain a definite 
indication of the amount to which the occipital bone 
enters into the formation of the length of the skull. The 
lower part of the lambdoid suture is 30 mm. in front of 
the posterior vertical line in my reconstruction ; only 20 
mm. in that of Dr Smith Woodward. It is in the 
occipital region that the discrepancy lies as regards the 
total length of our reconstructions. 
Another remarkable feature of the Piltdown skull as 
reconstructed in fig. 143 is the height to which the 
temporal bone rises on the side of the skull. It reaches 
40 mm. above the base line — more than can be seen 
in the very largest of modern skulls. We have always, 
until now, regarded a high temporal bone as an index 
of a large brain. The height of the squama of the 
temporal is not so apparent in Dr Smith Woodward's 
reconstruction, because of the tilting inwards of the 
temporal bone. As to the place at which the upper 
margin of the temporal bone comes into contact with 
the lower margin of the left parietal bone of the Piltdown 
