Mental nursing; or, Lectures for asylum attendants.

  • Harding, W. (William Harry), 1941-
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mental nursing; or, Lectures for asylum attendants. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    7. Nervous system by which the whole body is governed and its different parts made to act in harmony. Through it the various organs are put in motion or their activity restrained as is best for the welfare of the creature. In the lower animals the nervous system is well developed as regards the needs of actual existence; in man it has reached its highest point. By it he thinks, wills, and feels ; thanks to it he is the lord of living creatures. The skeleton or bony framework of the body is made up of more than 240 bones. Bones are com- posed of grisly substance impregnated with earthy matter. In childhood the grisly material is propor- tionally in greater amount and at that period of life bones may bend without snapping, or may only break in part as a green twig does when it is over- bent. In aged persons the earthy matter is in greater amount; their bones are therefore brittle and fractures easily occur. The central column of the skeleton on which the skull rests is called the spine. This is composed of a number of small bones called vertebrae placed one upon the other with a buffer-like arrange- ment of elastic matter between each two. There is not much movement between any two single vertebrse, but the spine as a. whole is very flexible and allows the body to be bent about freely in any direction. Each vertebra has a hole through it and these holes being placed one above the other make a