vinced that the inevitable pressure sustained in the birth does not injure the original form of the head. Nature assists herself, repairs the injury, and, by her labours from the internal to the external, restores order. How much must the feeble nose suffer in birth, yet is it repaired by the internal power of nature. If a cartilage so yielding, and which must suffer so much, can restore itself, how much must the scull suffer before it shall be unable to recover its form, by its own firmness, elasticity, and internal power of life? How many blows and accidents must many children endure, without injury, at least to the form of their forehead? Not but many schoolmasters and fathers will heavily have to answer for the stupidity of children, which has been the consequence of blows.

Our author alsó remarks—

Quod non naturales vocatæ capitis effigies etiam in egregie prudentibus (quandoquidem scilicet cerebrum nulla propria admodum indigeat figura) interdum spectentur; etiamsi tales calvariæ, ac potissimum suturarum specie, a naturali forma differentes, nobis in cœmiteriis perquam raro sese offerant, ut profecto subinde forsan occurrerent, si Alpium, quæ Italiam spectant, accolarum cœmiteria scrutaremur, quum illos homines non dictis modo capitis figuris, sed longe etiam magis discrepantibus, deformes esse audiam.

232

E.

OF THE SCULLS OF CHILDREN.

THE head, or scull, of a child, drawn upon paper, without additional circumstance, will be generally known, and seldom confounded with the head of an adult. But, to keep them distinct, it is necessary the painter should not be too hasty and incorrect in his observations of what is peculiar, or so frequently generalize the particular, which is the eternal error of painters, and of so many pretended physiognomists.

Notwithstanding individual variety, there are certain constant signs, proper to the head of a child, which as much consist in the combination and form of the whole as in the single parts.

It is well known that the head is larger, in proportion to the rest of the body, the younger the person is; and it seems to me, from comparing the sculls of the embryo, the child, and the man, that the part of the scull which contains the brain is proportionately larger than the parts that compose the jaw and the countenance. Hence it happens that the forehead, in children, especially the upper part, is generally so promi

nent.

The bones of the upper and under jaw, with the teeth they contain, are later in their growth, and more slowly attain perfect formation. The under part of the head generally increases more than the upper, till it has attained full growth. Several processes of the bones, as the processus mamillares, which lie behind and under the ears, form themselves after the birth; as in a great measure also do various hidden sinusses, or cavities, in these bones. The quill-form of these bones, with their various points, ends, and protuberances, and the numerous muscles which are annexed to them, and continually in action, make the greater increase, and change, more possible and easy than can happen in the spherical bony covering of the brain, when once the sutures are entirely become solid.

This unequal growth, of the two principal parts of the scull, must necessarily produce an essential difference in the whole; without enumerating the obtuse extremities, the edges, sharp corners, and single protuberances, which are chiefly occasioned by the action of the muscles.

As the man grows, the countenance below the forehead becomes more protuberant; and, as the sides of the face, that is to say, the temple bones, which also are slow in com

ing to perfection, continually remove further from each other, the scull gradually loses that pear form which it appears to me to have had in embryo.

The sinus frontales first form themselves after birth. The prominence at the bottom of the forehead, between the eyebrows, is likewise wanting in children; the forehead joins the nose the nose without any remarkable

curve.

This latter circumstance may, also, be observed in some grown persons, when the sinus frontales are either wanting or very small; for these cavities are found very different in different subjects.

The nose alters exceedingly, during growth; but I am unable to explain in what manner the bones contribute to this alteration, it being chiefly cartilaginous. Accurately to determine this, many experiments on the heads and sculls of children, and grown persons, would be necessary; or, rather, if we could compare the same head with itself, at different ages, which might be done by the means of shades, such gradations of the head or heads would be of great utility to the physiognomist.