Anatomy for artists / by John Marshall ; illustrated by two hundred original drawings by J.S. Cuthbert.

  • Cuthbert J. S.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anatomy for artists / by John Marshall ; illustrated by two hundred original drawings by J.S. Cuthbert. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    and the pectoralis major. Hence the limits of the muscular apparatus of the upper limb, are not easily defined, and there is no distinct line of demarcation between them and those of the trunk, two of the broadest muscles on which, the latissimus, behind, and the great pectoral, in front, actually reach the humerus. Whilst, therefore, externally, the lower limb appears to be fastened on to the trunk, the upper one seems as if it were fused with the body. This is quite consonant with the special office and actions of each limb. As compared with the muscles which embrace the femur, those which surround the humerus are but few in number; but this is owing partly to the fact that the scapular muscles, which correspond with the adductors of the thigh, end so close to the shoulder joint. The number of muscles in the fore-arm, and in the hand, is, however, greater than that in the leg, and in the foot, owing to the existence of the pronator, supinator, and opponent muscles. In considering, in a general manner, the form of the body, as dependent on the muscles and their tendons, it is seen that the trunk, neck and head constitute a bilaterally symmetrical mass, but that each limb, though symmetrical, as regards its fellow of the opposite side, is not so, as regards the other limb of the same side, nor yet in itself, whether it be viewed from the front, the bach, or either side. The absence of intrinsic symmetry is equally manifested in the bones, and in the muscles. The outer and inner borders of the foot and hand, the two malleoli above the ankle, and the two styloid processes above the wrist, the upper ends of the tibia and fibula, and of the radius and ulna, the outer and inner condyles of the femur and humerus, and the trochanters and tuberosities of those bones, are all unequal in size and form. So also the outer and inner fleshy bellies of the gastrocnemius, the two hamstrings, and the two vasti muscles are of unequal length, breadth, and prominence, whilst the adductors of the thigh, and the glutei, do not balance each other, either in quantity or position. In the upper limb, the fore-part of the deltoid differs from the hinder portion, the anterior fold of the axilla is unlike the posterior one in elevation, length, thickness and inclination, the outer and inner heads of the biceps and the triceps are unlike, the muscles of the fore-arm arise above the outer condyle of the humerus much higher than those from the inner condyle, and the ball of the thumb is larger than that of the little finger. The bilateral symmetry of the central mass of the body, and of each pair of limbs, has its mechanical and- developmental explanations. It, moreover, satisfies the eye as to the unity and balance of the entire form. But the absence of symmetry between the two halves of each limb, which is also associated with mechanical uses and necessities, becomes an unquestionable cause of interest from an aesthetic point of view. The formality of exact repetition, observable in the two sides of many buildings and machines, in doors and windows, in the legs of tables and chairs, in the blades of tongs and forceps, and in other articles of human