Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/Osteo. 118
Scientific nameHomo sapiens
CollectionHunterian
CategoryDry preparations
Object nameCranium, General Osteology of Man, Un-mounted dry bone
DescriptionAn adult male skull with a residual metopic suture.
Production date Estimated 1760 - Estimated 1793
Preparator
Owner/user
presented
Physical Location
LocationOn display in the Hunterian Museum, Room 4: The Long Gallery
Physical Information
Physical descriptionDry preparation of bone un-mounted.
Dimensions
whole weight: 732 g
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
Transcript118 A male European cranium showing metopism (persistence of the frontal suture), with a somewhat projecting supraoccipital region. In Clift's Catalogue (Part III, The Human and Comparative Osteology, 1831, p. 7) is the following statement: 'It was a curious remark made by Dr. Leach, and others who have examined that immense collection of crania and other bones in the catacombs at Paris, that the number of adult skulls in which the frontal suture remained un-obliterated was so considerable that, from a calculation made on the spot, he estimated the proportion to be at least one in eleven.'
SourceClift 1831a
p. 7
NotesThe following is added in William Clift's hand to the printed entry below: '[The average number in about 30,000. skulls which were taken as they followed indiscriminately.- Wm Clift, on the authority of Dr. Leach; and from a cursory observation, he appeared to be fully borne out. WC.*]'
‘*In the large collection of skulls deposited in the vault beneath the chapel of the church at Hythe in Kent which tradition reports to have been “the remains of persons slain in a battle between the Britons and an invading army in the 5th century,” the great number of skulls retaining the frontal suture cannot escape the notice of the most cursory observer. [Observed by Wm Clift, Sept. 9. 1832]'
TranscriptSkull, European; the frontal suture unobliterated.
It was a curious remark made by Dr. Leech, and observed by others who have exclaimed that immense collection of crania and other bones in the catacombs at Paris, that the number of adult skulls in which the frontal suture remained unobliterated was so considerable, that, from calculations made on the spot, he estimated the proportion to be at least on in eleven.’
