Note 244 — SOMATIC CHARACTERS

If allowance is made for the effects of flattening of the occipital on the long diameter, and hence on the index, of a skull, it becomes apparent that the true index of this skull is probably of a low brachycephalic, or, at most, of mesocephalic order. It is very doubtful if the deformity is intentional; its moderate extent and the total lack of signs of counter-compression would indicate with more probability that the deformity might have been produced by the individual lying, when an infant, by compulsion or habit, on something hard, probably a board.