A probationary essay on the causes and treatment of lateral curvature of the human spine : submitted by authority of the President and his Council, to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh when candidate for admission to their boby / by Robert Knox.

  • Knox, Robert, 1791-1862.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A probationary essay on the causes and treatment of lateral curvature of the human spine : submitted by authority of the President and his Council, to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh when candidate for admission to their boby / by Robert Knox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    er than the left.— From these different conside- rations, we may conclude (he continues) that the lateral curvature of the spine does not depend on the presence and pressure of the aorta, but on the predominance of action of the right arm, which be- ing stronger, and acting oftener, forces the vertebral column to incline to the left, to establish the equili- brium, and to offer to its muscles a fixed solid point. When, in consequence of the cause I have point- ed out, and of others which shall be presently ex- plained, a lateral curvature has been established in the dorsal part of the spine, and the equilibrium and perpendicularity of the trunk been thus affected, there arises, in consequence of the efforts made to maintain the equilibrium, and by an obvious me- chanical law, another curvature of the spine some- what lower down, and uniformly towards the oppo- site side. We may, I presume, now conclude, that the causes of the frequency and prevalence of lateral cur- vatures of the human spine, depend neither on any peculiar softened condition of the bones, connected with scrofula or hereditary disease* nor on any connate feebleness of the muscles which elevate and * Macartney.