On the use of the sutures in the bones of animals / [Benjamin Gibson].

  • Gibson, Benjamin, 1774-1812.
Date:
1805
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of the sutures in the bones of animals / [Benjamin Gibson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which they are connected, is fully completed before their obliteration takes place. When we take a view of the mode of junction between many bones, and parts of bones in the human body, which do not admit of motion, we find that with little exception they all agree in this particular ; that sooner or later the cartilage or periosteum, which once was in¬ terposed is obliterated, and these different portions, or entire bones, coalesce. The separate portions, which originally compose the vertebrae, are early in thus uniting : after these the sides of the lower jaw; at a later period the epiphysis of a cylindrical bone is united to its body : and still later the bones of the skull usually coalesce, and the sutures are obliterated. Other bones, as those of the face, which have no motion and sustain little weight, are irregular in this respect; sometimes uniting, but generally remaining distinct, to the end of a long life. The original formation of the osseous system in several distinct pieces, respects principally its speedy ossification at an early period of life, and its future convenient extension, till it has arrived at its full growth; and we may consider it as a general principle, that where two parts of one bone are separated from each other by an intervening cartilage, or two distinct