[Illustration: FIG. 25.--The skull from the Neanderthal cavern. A. side,
B. front, and C. top view. One-third the natural size, by Mr. Busk: the
details from the cast and from Dr. Fuhlrott's photographs. 'a' glabella;
'b' occipital protuberance; 'd' lambdoidal suture.]
Dr. Fuhlrott replied with a courtesy and readiness for which I am
infinitely indebted to him, to my inquiries, and furthermore sent three
excellent photographs. One of these gives a side view of the skull, and
from it Fig. 25, A. has been shaded. The second (Fig. 26, A.) exhibits
the wide openings of the frontal sinuses upon the inferior surface of
the frontal part of the skull, into which, Dr. Fuhlrott writes, "a probe
may be introduced to the depth of an inch," and demonstrates the great
extension of the thickened supraciliary ridges beyond the cerebral
cavity. The third, lastly (Fig. 26, B.) exhibits the edge and the
interior of the posterior, or occipital, part of the skull, and shows
very clearly the two depressions for the lateral sinuses, sweeping
inwards towards the middle line of the roof of the skull, to form the
longitudinal sinus. It was clear, therefore, that I had not erred in
my interpretation, and that the posterior lobe of the brain of the
Neanderthal man must have been as much flattened as I suspected it to
be.
In truth, the Neanderthal cranium has most extraordinary characters.
It has an extreme length of 8 inches, while its breadth is only 5.75
inches, or, in other words, its length is to its breadth as 100:72.
It is exceedingly depressed, measuring only about 3.4 inches from the
glabello-occipital line to the vertex. The longitudinal arc, measured
in the same way as in the Engis skull, is 12 inches; the transverse
arc cannot be exactly ascertained, in consequence of the absence of the
temporal bones, but was probably about the same, and certainly exceeded
10 1/4 inches. The horizontal circumference is 23 inches. But this
great circumference arises largely from the vast development of the
supraciliary ridges, though the perimeter of the brain case itself is
not small. The large supraciliary ridges give the forehead a far more
retreating appearance than its internal contour would bear out.
To an anatomical eye the posterior part of the skull is even more
striking than the anterior. The occipital protuberance occupies the
extreme posterior end of the skull, when the glabello-occipital line
is made horizontal, and so far from any part of the occipital region
extending beyond it, this region of the skull slopes obliquely upward
and forward, so that the lambdoidal suture is situated well upon the
upper surface of the cranium. At the same time, notwithstanding the
great length of the skull, the sagittal suture is remarkably short (4
1/2 inches), and the squamosal suture is very straight.
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