The home book of health and medicine : being a popular treatise on the means of avoiding and curing diseases, and of preserving the health and vigour of the body to the latest period : including also an account of the nature and properties of remedies : the treatment of the diseases of women and children, and the management of pregnancy and parturition / by a physician of Philadelphia.

  • Horner, William E. (William Edmonds), 1793-1853.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The home book of health and medicine : being a popular treatise on the means of avoiding and curing diseases, and of preserving the health and vigour of the body to the latest period : including also an account of the nature and properties of remedies : the treatment of the diseases of women and children, and the management of pregnancy and parturition / by a physician of Philadelphia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    The face is divided into upper and under jaws. The upper jaw is the immoveable part of the face, which consists of six bones on each side, and a thirteenth in the middle. The thirteen bones are two nasal bones; two 'small bones within the orbits of the eyes, at their inner angle ; two cheek bones; two jaw bones; two palate bones; two spongy bones, and the vomer. The nasal bones are placed at the upper part, and form the arch of the nose, next the fore- head ; the cheek bones form the promi- nence of the cheeks; the jaw bones extend upwards on each side of the nose, and form the whole lower and fore part of the upper jaw, and the greatest part of the roof of the mouth; the palate bones are situated at the back part of the palate, nostrils and orbits i the spongy bones are seen within the nostrils, at their lower part; and the vomer helps to separate these two cavities. The bones of the face, besides being con- nected to the bones of the scull, are also firmly joined to each other. The lower jaw in the adult, consists of only one bone. In form, it resembles a horse- shoe; the convex part of which is turned forwards, and forms the chin. At its back part, this bone is bent upwards, and termi- nates in two processes. The anterior of these, which rises highest, is a thin point, into which muscles are inserted. The pos- terior process, terminates in an oblong smooth head, tipped with cartilage, which is received into a pit of the temporal bone, where it forms a hinge that is capable of very extensive motion. This bone, as well as the upper jaw bones, are furnished with an outer and inner bony plate, called the alveolar processes, for retaining the teeth with firmness. In each of the jaws are placed sixteen teeth; so that the head, if we include the os hyoides, a small bone situated under the chin, consists in the adult, of sixty-three pieces. The bony structure of which the face is composed, is covered with muscles, cellular membrane, fat and the skin. The contraction of the different muscles of the face is capable of being excited by the passions of the mind, in some degree independent of the will, and thus gives rise to the different expres- sions of countenance, in grief, joy, anger, laughter, &c. The passion of the mind which is most frequently indulged in, whether it be of a benevolent, depressing, exhilirating, or malevolent character, by exciting frequently certain contractions of the muscles of the face; the expression pro- duced by the latter becomes habitual, and hence, as we well know, the face is, to a cer- tain extent, the index of the mind. Facial angle.—If a line be drawn from the most projecting part of the forehead to the most projecting portion of the lower jaw, and across this another line be drawn in a hoi'izontal direction, from the base of the nose along the opening of the ear, be- tween these two fines nearly all the cere- brum or brain proper, will be included, and the angle which these two lines form where they cross will be greater in proportion to the larger size of the brain. The first of these lines is called the facial line, and the angle which it forms with the second, the facial angle. Now, as upon the develop- ment of the organs which compose the cere- brum, the perfection of the intellectual pow- ers depend, of course the more extensive the latter, the more perpendicular will be the facial line, and the greater the facial an- g'le. This has been found to hold true to a very great extent in the human subject, and as we descend from man through the scale of animals placed below him, we find the facial angle to become less and less, until it is finally lost. the sriNE. The spine or back bone consists of twen- ty-four separate bones, called vertebras. Seven, namely: in the neck, called cervical; twelve along the back of the thorax, or chest, called dorsal; and five in the loins, called lumbar. These twenty-four bones are joined to each other by cartilages, firm at their circumference, but in the centre, of a consistency nearly resembling a glary fluid. The chief advantage of this struc- ture is, that this soft matter in the centre of the cartilage, when confined, has all the resistance of a solid body, without its hard- ness, which in this part might, be attended with Very bad consequences. These bones thus joined together, form a column larger below than above, smooth and round be- fore, very rough and uneven behind, and hollow within, to receive the spinal mar- row. The spine, however, though it forms a column, does not form, by any means, an upright column. The spine, viewed side- ways, if the os sacrum is considered as a continuation of it, is bent very much in the form of the letter/. In the neck, it projects somewhat forwards; lower down, it takes a curved direction backwards, to make room for the heart and lungs. In the loins, it ad- vances again forwards under the centre of gravity, so as to support the abdominal or- gans. It afterwards turns backwards, for the enlargement of the pelvis; and, finally, the lower extremity turns again forwards, to give support to the lower end of the intes- tines. The head is connected to the upper ver- tebra of the neck, by two smooth projections at the basis of the scull, which are called condyles, which are received into two cor- responding cavities in the upper part of the