t extends back on the head a little behind its middle. The
sagittal suture on the median line of the upper surface usually
presents a slight, bony elevation or ridge (see the engraving of the
skull, Chapter III.), and the lambdoid suture on the back of the head
is frequently rough. A superficial practical phrenologist (of great
pretensions) at Cincinnati, in examining the head of a gentleman of
mild character, found the lambdoid suture quite rough, and gave him a
terrifically pugnacious character, not knowing enough to distinguish
between osseous and cerebral development. The occipital knob on the
median line between the cerebrum and cerebellum, has been already
mentioned. The mastoid process, the bony prominence behind the ear is
a projection exterior to the cerebellum. Where it starts from the
cranium above and behind the cavity of the ear, we may judge of
basilar development by the breadth of the head, but the basilar depth
which is more important is to be judged by the extension downward,
which was illustrated in the last chapter by comparing the skulls of
J. R. Smith and the slave-trading count.

To judge the comparative strength of the higher and lower elements of
character, we look for the height above the forehead and the depth at
and behind the ear, which is ascertained by placing the hand on the
base of the cranium behind the ears, while the height of the head is
best appreciated by placing a hand on the top with the fingers
reaching down to the brow.

In a profile view the human head may be divided into three equal
parts, the length of the nose being the central part, from the nose to
the end of the chin another, and the remainder above the nose the
third part. In inferior heads these three measurements are equal, the
upper third extending to the top of the head; but in heads of superior
character the upper third extends only to the top of the forehead, and
the outline of the head rises a half breadth above the forehead, as
the following profiles show. In heads of the lowest character the
basilar depth exceeds the height, as in the French Count and the
Indian Lewis.

The contour of a well-developed head forms a semicircle above the base
line through the brow, and its elevation above that line is equal to
one half of the antero-posterior length of the head, while in the
inferior class of heads the elevation is but four-tenths of the length
or even less, and is hardly equal to the depth, while in the highest