Cranium

“ An anatomist may tell you that when the human brain reaches its fifteen-power standard (its maximum growth, at the age of twenty) the cranium, or bone box that contains it, will not grow more. It delights me, lover of inequality that I am, to inform the anatomist that there is no standard at all for a few exceptional brains, that they go on increasing the number of the cells of the cerebrum until, at a great age, physical decay begins; and, in order to accommodate these new cells, the cranium itself expands and grows. ”

“ Now comes the important question, can we discern, between the lowest and the highest forms of the human cranium anything answering, in however slight a degree, to this revolution of the side and roof bones of the skull upon the basicranial axis observed upon so great a scale in the mammalian series? ”

“ When on my return to England I showed the cast of the cranium to Professor Huxley, he remarked at once that it was the most ape-like skull he had ever beheld. ”

“ We are convinced that even if the skull had been complete, it would not have been possible to pronounce, with certainty, upon a single specimen; for individual variations are so numerous in the crania of one and the same race, that one cannot, without laying oneself open to large chances of error, draw any inference from a single fragment of a cranium to the general form of the head to which it belonged. ”

“ Third Period.—There follows a slow and parallel growth of both brain and cranium. The ossification of the cranium itself reaches completion. At the age of seven the occipital is definitely solidified into a single bone and between the years of fifteen and twenty the [Pg 201] body of the sphenoid also becomes welded to the occiput. This process of synostosis begins from the interior of the cranium, and only subsequently manifests itself externally. ”

“ Since it is not only a characteristic of species and race, but of genus as well, the cranium constitutes one of the most constant anatomical features. For the same reason it is less subject to variations due to environment, and from this point of view offers slight interest to pedagogic anthropology. But since the cranium contains the organ on which the psychic manifestations depend, we have a deep interest in knowing its human characteristics, its phases of development, and its normal limits.
Head and Cranium
The term Head is applied to the living man ”

“ Aside from its mechanical relations to the volume, the form has characteristics dependent upon biological factors, such as the sex and the race. The female cranium in fact has a straighter forehead than the male and the orbital arches are absolutely wanting, while the entire surface of the cranium is smoother and more rounded. ”

“ The cranium was abnormally shaped, reaching a great elevation at the summit, then sinking suddenly, then spreading forward to an enormous development at the temple just visible as he was then standing, and at the same time forming unusual protuberances behind the large and pointed ears. No one who knew the man could mistake his head, when even the least portion of it could be seen. ”

“ The cranium is fragmentary, but typically human, with a capacity of over a thousand cubic centimeters, indicating a brain about four fifths that of the average European and twice as large as that of the highest apes. The. bones are remarkably thick and the temporal muscles extend higher up on the skull than in any recent or fossil man. ”

“ Formed of a single cartilaginous and membranous substance at the beginning of embryonic life, the cranium is composed in the last fœtal state of a great number of points of ossification of various texture. At birth the number of these points has considerably diminished; they have united for the most part to form the different parts of the bones of the cranium or brain case and the bones of the face; as the child grows, these points grow and end by being contiguous; about the age of eighteen or twenty years they form bones separated by sutures. ”

“ The new doctrine he expounded was received in Germany with great enthusiasm by the school of the philosophers of nature. The author conceived the cranium to consist of three vertebræ, and the basal occipital, the sphenoid, and the ethmoid, were regarded as the central parts of these cranial vertebræ. On these alleged bodies of vertebræ, the arches enveloping the central parts of the nervous system were raised, while on the opposite side were attached the inferior pieces, which went to form the vegetative arch destined to embrace the intestinal canal and the large vessels. ”

“ The back of the cranium is often remarkably flat, and I have seen many heads of the pyramidal shape, rising narrow and pointed high to the apex. The beard is seldom thick, and never long; the moustachio is removed, and the pile, like the hair, often grows in tufts. ”

“ The skull consists of a cartilaginous cranium, and of jaw and visceral arches. The cranium persists throughout life, in what closely resembles a transitory embryonic condition of the higher types. There is a nasal capsule (na.c.) , a brain case proper, and lateral otic (auditory) capsules (ot.c.) containing the internal ear. (This should be compared with the frog's embryonic skull.) The upper jaw has a great bar of cartilage, the palato-pterygoid, as its sole support; the arch of premaxilla, maxilla, jugal, and squamosal-- all membrane bones-- is, of course, not represented. ”

“ When the circulation of the brain is vigorous and regular, all portions being in regular activity, the fulness of the circulation being shown in the face, we may be sure that the character is fairly indicated by the cranium. The younger the individual the thinner the cranium, and the less the liability to deception by the thickness of the bones. Female skulls are generally more delicate than male, and also more normal or uniform in their circulation. ”

“ Considering the cranium, according to what he conceives to be the true anatomical theory, as simply a prolongation of the vertebral column,—the primitive centre of the whole nervous system,—he argues that the functions, intellectual and emotional, which are proper to the upper and anterior parts of it, are less energetic than the animal propensities, whose organs lie in the lower and posterior region, just in proportion as they are further removed from the spine ”

“ The most important among these and among all the abnormal forms is the trigonocephalic cranium, having the base of the triangle toward the occiput and the vertex toward the forehead. The result of such formation is that the frontal region is restricted, a circumstance of obvious gravity. The infantile cranium is normally pentagonoid; the persistence of this form in the adult is a sign of arrested development, but not serious. Sergi does not admit this form among the anomalies when the nodules are but slightly emphasised. ”

“ On each side there are membranes or skins, which form kinds of ears; and under them others, which at times fill with water, and are then transparent. Under this thick skin there is a cranium, of a kind of coriaceous or cartilaginous matter; and in the cranium we find the brain, which is a white substance, and very firm. At the basis of the head its oval wide mouth is placed, being above two lines long, which often discovers a white hard edge, with which he crops the fucus’s, and other sea-plants, for his nourishment. ”

“ The science which makes a study of the cranium is called craniology. The cranium and the head may be studied either by observing the external form—cranioscopy or cephaloscopy; or else by taking measurements—craniometry or cephalometry. Craniology makes use equally of cranioscopy and of craniometry: in fact, if cranioscopy alone were used, certain anomalies might escape attention, because we can recognise them only by measuring the head ”

“ A little anatomical knowledge will prevent us from being deceived, and enable us to make due allowances. There are no great difficulties in making a correct estimate, and the anatomists who have taught their pupils that correct cranial observations could not be made, only showed their own ignorance of the subject. We must consider the cranium as though all osseous protuberances had been shaved off, leaving the smooth, curving contour of the skull. ”

“ I would, however, respectfully suggest, that that theory of cerebral vertebræ, on which, in this question, the comparative anatomists proceed as their principle, and which finds as little support in the geologic record from the actual history of the fore limbs as from the actual history of the bones of the cranium, may be more ingenious than sound. It is a shrewd circumstance, that the rocks refuse to testify in its favor. ”

“ At whatever conclusion we may arrive as to the origin of the man from whence this fossil skull proceeded, we may express an opinion without exposing ourselves to a fruitless controversy. Each may adopt the hypothesis which seems to him most probable: for my own part, I hold it to be demonstrated that this cranium has belonged to a person of limited intellectual faculties, and we conclude thence that it belonged to a man of a low degree of civilization: a deduction which is borne out by contrasting the capacity of the frontal with that of the occipital region. ”

“ Furthermore, the cranium together with the vertebral column represents not only the characteristics of species, but also those of the genus; in fact, it corresponds to the cerebro-spinal axis, which is the least variable part of the body throughout the whole series of vertebrates; just as, on the contrary, the limbs represent the most variable part. ”

“ The human bones include the cranium and lower jaw (broken, but the pieces nearly all present and easily replaced in exact position) , a few vertebræ and long bones, several ribs, phalanges, and metacarpals, clavicle, astragalus, calcaneum, parts of scaphoid, ilium, and sacrum. The ensemble denotes an individual of the male sex whose height was about 1.60 meters. The condition of the sutures and of the jaws proves the skull to be that of an old man. The cranium is dolichocephalic, with an index of 75. ”

“ Of this, however, I was unable to procure more than a plaster cast of the cranium, taken at Elberfeld, from which I drew up an account of its remarkable conformation, which was, in the first instance, read on the 4th of February, 1857, at the meeting of the Lower Rhine Medical and Natural History Society, at Bonn. ”

“ Upon examining the contents of the cranium, the pia mater was considerably inflamed, and an extravasated blotch, about the size of a shilling, was seen upon that membrane, near the middle of the right lobe of the [Pg 49] cerebrum. There was no water between the membranes, nor in the ventricles, but a general determination of blood to the contents of the cranium. The medullary substance when cut into was full of bloody points. The consistence of the brain was natural. ”

“ If it should so happen that the horns of the cranium get hooked under a root or other obstacle, he must extricate it in the best manner he can, by pulling different ways, but he must not touch the rope or the head with his hands, or in any respect attempt to relieve the painful strain upon his wounds, until his complete task is performed. ”

“ The fragment of a skull preserved shows characters of the sculpture which are identical with those of the mandible. The bones are so crushed that it is impossible to tell the limits of the elements. I believe a portion of one orbit is represented on one corner of the block. The cranium appears to have been broad, and the fragment preserved, which is only about one-sixth of the skull, is larger than the entire cranium and mandibles of Macrerpeton huxleyi. ”

“ These structures, underlying the skull, are all that appear [s] at first of the brain box. In front, and separate from the cranium, are the nasal organs (n.c.) ; the eyes lie laterally to the trabeculae, and laterally to the parachordals are two tracts of cartilage enclosing the internal ear, the otic capsules. ”

“ The cracks in this boy's cranium may be explained physiologically. Matter subjected to constant motion gets heated, as we all know. Now young Whirligig's skull is but scantily furnished with brain matter, and it would be wise of him to keep it still. ”

“ It is particularly interesting, as it suggests that, notwithstanding the flattened condition of the occiput, the posterior cerebral lobes must have projected considerably beyond the cerebellum, and as it constitutes one among several points of similarity between the Neanderthal cranium and certain Australian skulls.
Such are the two best known forms of human cranium, which have been found in what may be fairly termed a fossil state. Can either be shown to fill up or diminish, to any appreciable extent, the structural interval which exists between Man and the man-like apes? ”

“ The cranium is of unusual size, and of a long-elliptical form. A most remarkable peculiarity is at once obvious in the extraordinary development of the frontal sinuses, owing to which the superciliary ridges, which coalesce completely in the middle, are rendered so prominent, that the frontal bone exhibits a considerable hollow or depression above, or rather behind them, whilst a deep depression is also formed in the situation of the root of the nose. The forehead is narrow and low, though the middle and hinder portions of the cranial arch are well developed. ”