Nervous and mental diseases / by Archibald Church and Frederick Peterson.

  • Church, Archibald, 1861-1952.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nervous and mental diseases / by Archibald Church and Frederick Peterson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

    717/976 (page 709)
    angle is obtuse, due, probably, to aplasia of the upper or hyperplasia of the lower maxilla. The demonstration of the empirical greatest height is often quite valuable as an index of degenerative and neuropathic types. The following are some general points which should be considered in the examination of these cases : A skull below the normal type in volume belongs to an abnormal individual. Undertypical measurements of the head should always lead us to entertain the suspicion of defective cerebration. Abnormal smallness of any part of the skull permits the conclusion that the part of the brain in its neighborhood is imperfectly developed. Excessive development of the head has a double signification. It is T,TiT,mTir,r ) Fig. 278.—Benedikt's calipers. Fig. 279.—Author's calipers. always pathological, but may mean abnormality of brain or successful compensation. Wormian bones are also doubly significant. They either represent a pathological process or a successful effort of nature in repair. Hemiplegia spastica infantilis, epilepsy, and intellectual or ethic weakness often exhibit unilateral aplasia of the skull. The skull is representative of the brain only during the years of its development, and it must be remembered that psychopathic deteriora- tion often has its inception subsequent to the completion of the process, when no impression can be made upon its bony walls. I have prepared a table of the measurements recommended, showing the averages in adults, male and female, together with the physiological variation, excesses above or below which are significant of morbidit}^ It is based upon the examination of some hundreds of skulls and heads, and upon statistics given by various authorities who have made especial study of this department of anthropometry. Hence it may be depended upon as a fair estimate of the dimensions of the head in most of the Caucasian races. The table is as follows: