Experiments and observations in order to ascertain the means employed in the animal economy, in the formation of bone / by John Howship.

  • John Howship
Date:
1815
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiments and observations in order to ascertain the means employed in the animal economy, in the formation of bone / by John Howship. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    affords a strong argument in favour of the opinion, that pressure variously modified, constitutes one of the most efficient instruments in the hand of na- ture : for in this instance, the uniform though gentle pressure from the impulse of the circula- tion, and the constantly increasing volume of con- tents in the head, must be admitted to be the sole agents in completing that process, which in its commencement had the appearance of being con- ducted in a comparatively imperfect manner, 13. That the ultimate texture of bone is not la- minated, but reticulated, the phosphat of lime be- ing deposited as an interstitial substance; for al- though from the greater compactness necessary to the bones of quadrupeds, the ultimate structure is not in them so readily traced, yet in the more de- licately constructed bones of birds, this mode of' arrangement is sufficiently obvious, and may at any time be readily ascertained. This opinion agrees perfectly with that lately given by a most excellent physiologist*. His ex- periments were made by the removal of the earthy matter of bone, while mine have turned principally upon the destruction of the gelatinous, or animal principle. I cannot submit the above experiments and ob- servations to the attention of this Society, without * Anton. Scarpa de penitiori ossium structura.
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