FIG. 11.
II. Simple microcephaly (smallness of head. Fig. [11]) or nannocephaly (dwarf head). As a rule these are found among idiots, but much has been done by training, even for them. Many seemingly great intellects, however, have heads approaching, if not reaching this type.[191] Des Cartes, Foscolo, and Schumann had sub-microcephaly. The poet Shelley had a head belonging very nearly to this category, but while he exhibited many stigmata of degeneracy, that of intellectual deficiency was wanting. This type of skull, however, is usually associated with deep degeneracy. It represents in man the condition underlying the premature suture-closing which occurs in the ape. It sometimes may exist with considerable intellect, as in the case of Donizetti. Sometimes this suture-closing directly prevents brain growth. This condition is rarer than many surgeons admit, but it does occur, as witness the cases of Vico, Malebranche, and Clement VI. The fact that these three fractured their skulls in infancy saved them from being imbeciles and idiots like their brothers, sisters, and cousins.
FIG. 12.
III. Dolichocephaly (long-headedness. Fig. [12]). (a) Upper middle synostosis. (1) Simple dolichocephaly is due to synostosis of the sagittal, or antero-posterior suture of the skull. Whether this be due to degeneracy or not depends entirely on the race in which it occurs. The ultra-dolichocephaly of Daniel O’Connell was due, in Kiernan’s opinion, to his birth in an Irish district settled by dolichocephalics. Undoubtedly dolichocephaly is tending to mesocephaly (medium size of head). Even the negro, generally regarded by ethnologists as dolichocephalic, is tending in this direction, as numerous observations of my own show. Dolichocephaly, however, while it does not demonstrate, suggests degeneracy, since it seems to be a disappearing type of skull. The changes in American families in this particular indicate this. (2) Sphenocephaly (wedge-shape of head. Fig. [13]) is due to synostosis of the sagittal suture, with compensatory growth in the region of the large fontanelle. (b) Dolichocephalic states, resulting from inferior lateral synostosis are: (1) Leptocephaly (narrowness of head), due to synostosis of the frontal and sphenoid bones. (2) Klinocephaly (saddle-shaped head) is due to synostosis of the parietal bones with the greater wings of the sphenoid, or of the parietal with the squamous portion of the temporal bone.
