ABSTRACT
If we never look at the outline of a living head, an important aid to diagnosis in mental deficiency is lost to us, apart from other practical uses . The number and post-mortem appearances of the microscopical brain cells, on which Insanity and Mental Deficiency textbooks lay great stress, will not help us with the diagnosis or treatment of living imbeciles and the mentally deranged. And, while the mental tests practised so extensively in our elementary schools are, undoubtedly, excellent, they would gain still more in value if, in addition, any exceptional shape of the head were taken notice of. For instance, a broad, high, and prominent frontal region, with flat posterior development, must have some significance, when compared, say, with a low, narrow, sloping forehead and large occiput. On the other hand, when a child's head is elongated and prominent, both front and back, having abnormal dimensions, it should arouse suspicion of an excess of cerebro-spinal fluid, that is to say, of actual or arrested hydrocephalus .
