Are text books necessary when studying?

What anatomy text books /Atlas's / illustrations show the human skull as being fused?

• This isn't a question about whether or not Cranial osteopathy is valid or CST. I keep reading websites and blogs saying "this is impossible because the skull is fused!!" Now when I was studying osteology and arthrology I was taught that the skull was comprised of 29 bones most of which are joined together like a jigsaw puzzle with JOINTS called sutures. These sutures have structure which has been studied extensively and are histologically distinct. The sutures never fuse (under normal circumstances) and suture examination has been a way of establishing the approximate age of death in an individual where only the skull is present. Can someone please enlighten me and show me a text book which shows the sutures as fusing and the bones becoming 1 entity? I haven't read all the Anatomy books but probably 20 or so. I've never seen one which says this.

• Answer:

  In Essential Histology by David H Cormack (from 2001 page 187) it says:" .....By the time the head is fully grown, bone tissue replaces the skull sutures and the formerly separate bones fuse and become the cranial vault." ETA: [Anatomy lab...] If direct observation counts, then I´ll add autopsy room. The bones are fused. [Wow! i just found this great paper on the closure of Cranial sutures. http://soar.wichita.edu/dspace/bitstream%E2%80%A6 Take a look at it JLI its very interesting.] I did, and it says:"....Results showed that the sagittal suture is never completely open after the age of 35 years and is closed as early as 26 years.....Closure first commences in the endocranial sutures at 19 years of age.....A trend towards obliteration of the sutures with age does exist, but it is difficult to estimate age other than within wide limits". So if you agree with this paper, you agree that the bones fuse. [So you are both actually telling me that Netter, Grants, Mcmins, Grays Anatomy, the authors of the locomotor system etc. (sorry I can't remember their names) have got it wrong?] You asked for textbooks saying that the bones fuse, and that is what we delivered. Rhianna referred to Gray´s Anatomy. So there seems to be a difference of opinion what it says. I don't think anyone will be able to convince you that the bones fuse, but you can't claim that there are no textbooks that say they do. ETA: [Quote by Rhianna from Gray's anatomy] This quote really leaves no room for interpretation. According to Gray's Anatomy (which you have read and may even have in your possession) is quite clear. The bones fuse. Why not have this question resolved. Personal insults aside, it would be the right thing to do to pick Rhianna's answer as BA for answering the question with a reference to a textbook you know of (own yourself?). And simply declare yourself as standing corrected - at least when it comes to the question you asked. EOD