Ourselves, our food, and our physic / by Benjamin Ridge.

  • Ridge, Benjamin.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ourselves, our food, and our physic / by Benjamin Ridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/220 (page 3)
    BONES, JOINTS, MUSCLES, ETC. tected by cartilage or gristle, anil arc belli together by strong ligaments, thus forming a more or less hinge-like apparatus. Within them there is a fluid secreted called synovia, vulgaidy joint-oil, for their proper lubrication. Thk Mpscles.—The genei'al configuration and symmetry of the body depends on its muscles or flesh. These arise from one part of a bone and are inserted into another part, or from one bone and become inserted into the next. They have direct as well as ^intagonistic actions; they extend or draw in the limbs imder the direction of the will. The fleshy paiis of these are the muscular structure, w'hilst their thinner terminations are called tendons. All muscles can be more or less distinctly traced by their skinny coverings or fascia, which give them an easy play over each other; hence anatomists have been able to separate, trace, and name them. Their number amounts to about 350. Fat, Cellular Tissue, Skin, etc.—Over the muscles Nature has provided certain fatty deposits; upon these a beautiful fabric, called the cellular tissue, forms a network of blood-vessels, which nourishes the parts beneath and the ti-ue skin immediately above it, whilst an upper skin covers this. A small watery space lies betw’cen these two skins, yet so closely connected are they, that until a gall or a blister separates them, tliey w'oidd be scarcely Imown to exist as two distinct organisms. This, then, is the general fiiunework of the body as it appears externally ; parts of it being protected with hair, and the termination of the toes and fingers with nails, the uses of which ai-e patent to all. The facility of movement of the w'hole or parts of the body, and its powers, need no illustration. Dimcers, acrobats, Avrestlcrs, and those who indidgo in gymnastics, and every one, in fact, who takes riding, walking, and other exercise, must appreciate its wonderful flexibility and endurance. We must next take a ■ view of the inside of the body, and all its wondrous organs ' which sustain and regulate the whole fabric. The Cavity of the Chest.—This is formed by the ribs . and the back and breast bones; the upper parts being pro- i tcctcd by the collar bones, and the lower floor supix)!^^! by a :musculai’ partition called the diaphragm or midritr, wliich is attached to the lireast bone, the lower ribs and vertebrso of the back, and separates this cavity from the abdomen. In