Thus the front lobe occupies the highest plane, resting on the vault of the sockets of the eyes, and extending back as far as the sockets. The middle lobe lies behind the sockets of the eyes and above the cavities of the ears, its base being as low as the bottom of the sockets of the eyes and corresponding nearly with the upper edge of the cheekbone, as it extends from the sockets to the side of the head just in front of the ears. In the posterior base of the skull, the reader will observe an opening (_foramen magnum_ or large foramen) through which the spinal cord ascends. The spinal cord is exposed in the neck below the foramen. Going back, we find the middle lobe rises higher, ascending over the cavity of the ear and resting upon the ridge of bone in which the apparatus of hearing is situated, thus reaching the level of the tentorium, on which the occipital lobe rests. The bones of the cranium seen by looking down into the basis of the skull, as above, are the frontal bone over the eyes, the sphenoid bone, behind the sockets of the eyes, extending from the right to the left temple, the temporal bones, forming the ridge that holds the apparatus of hearing, and extending up about two inches on the side head, and the occipital bone at the back, between the two temporals, meeting the sphenoid bone in the centre of the base. The cerebellum rests in the deep double concavities of the occipital bone, and the spinal cord ascends through the large opening (foramen magnum) in the middle of its base, assuming the form called the medulla oblongata. [Illustration] When we fully understand this view of the base of the skull, let us look at it in profile, and observe the frontal bone connected by the coronal suture to the parietal and the parietal by the squamous or scaly suture to the temporal, and by the lambdoid suture to the occipital. The sphenoid or bat-wing bone appears in the temples by its wing, between the frontal and temporal, while in the centre of the base its solid body is between the frontal and occipital. The sphenoid bone is in contact with organs of sensitive delicacy, refinement, and inspiration, the occipital with organs of vital force, the temporal with organs of appetite, excitement, and force, the frontal with organs of intellect and refined benevolence, the parietal with the organs of virtue, amiability, self control, and general strength of character, which make a superior person.