NOTES ON SOME OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL AND FUNCTIONAL RELATIONS OF CERTAIN PORTIONS OF THE CRANIUM. SELECTED BY FREDERICK WILLIAM PAVY, M.D., LONDIN., FROM The Lectures on Anatomy DELIVERED AT GUY'S HOSPITAL BY JOHN HILTON, F.R.S. LONDON: JOHN CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. (Established in Princes Street, Soho, 1784.) PREFACE. THE Notes occupying the following pages were selected from Mr. Hilton's Lectures on the Bones of the Head, and arranged for publication in compliance with a desire that was frequently being expressed by those who had heard them. They were written and originally intended for publication in the Guy's Hospital Reports; and the first half of them appeared in that journal for October, 1853. On account of the recent demise, however, of this periodical, their completion under the form commenced was prevented, and, after a careful revision under Mr. Hilton's superintendence, the whole of them have been placed together, and appear in the present volume. Guy's Hospital, November, 1854. F. W. P. THE BONES OF THE HEAD CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO THEIR FUNCTIONAL AND ANATOMICAL ASSOCIATIONS. IN entering upon the osteology of the cranium, we approach a subject that is not unjustly regarded by the student as one of the most irksome and difficult that he has to encounter in the whole course of his anatomical studies. Of all the bones, none possess so complex a configuration and so intricate an arrangement as those of the cranium-a complexity and intricacy that depend on the numerous and varied functions of the surrounding structures, with which they are placed in the most close and intimate relation. No one, I imagine, possessing or impressed with a just conception of Nature's universal precision in adapting means to ends, can for a moment hesitate to admit that each process of bone; whether belonging to the exterior or to the interior of the skull, and however at first sight apparently insignificant in character; is developed for some especial purpose, or to carry out some especial design. Now, it is to an inquiry into this intention or design that I wish most particularly to direct your attention; and I think we shall find, as we proceed, that it leads to some important and exceedingly interesting considerations, and at the same time divests the study of the cranial bones of that dry detail which otherwise belongs to their simple anatomical description. B |