OBSERVATIONS ON FOUR THOUSAND OPTIC FORAMINA IN HUMAN SKULLS OF KNOWN ORIGIN

Abstract

This communication presents certain phases of an investigation, conducted by the courtesy of Dr. T. Wingate Todd, on the optic foramen and its contiguity as represented in the skulls housed in the Hamann Museum of the Laboratory of Anatomy at Western Reserve University. MATERIAL The material which formed the basis of this study consisted of 2,187 skulls. Of these 123 were wet (preserved in fluid) ; the remainder were dried. According to race and sex, 1,354 were from white persons (1,146 from males and 208 from females) and 833 were from Negroes (599 from males and 234 from females). The ages of the subjects ranged from 1 day to a stated age of 105 years. The skulls were prepared for research by being sectioned in the sagittal plane, or the calvarium was removed at necropsy. It was possible to inspect minutely their interiors. The age, race and sex of the