[p. 477] to the forehead, sometimes ending at the hairy margin, sometimes dividing the forehead itself and ending between the eyebrows. Most of these are dovetailed, but those which cross over above the ears are bevelled off a little all along their margin so that the lower bones smoothly overlap the upper. Now the thickest bone in the head is behind the ear, where hair does not grow, probably on that very account. Under the muscles covering the temples is situated the middle bone which slopes outwards. But the face has the largest suture; it begins at one temple, passes across the middle of the orbits and nose to the other temple. From this suture two short sutures are directed downwards from the inner corners of the eyes; and the cheeks at their upper parts also have transverse sutures. From the middle of the nostrils or of the gums of the upper teeth, one suture runs back through the middle of the palate, another cuts the same palate transversely. These are the sutures found in most skulls.
Now the largest passages leading into the head are those of the eyes, next the nostrils, then those of the ears. Those of the eyes lead direct and without branching into the brain. The two nasal passages are separated by an intermediate bone. These begin at the eyebrows and eye-corners, and their structure is for almost a third part bony, then changes into cartilage, and the nearer they get to the mouth the more soft and fleshy their structure becomes. Now these passages are single between the highest and lowest part of the nostrils, but there they each break up into two branches, one set from the nostrils to the throat for expiration and inspiration,
