The principles and practice of obstetric medicine and surgery : in reference to the process of parturition : illustrated by one hundred and forty-eight figures / by Francis H. Ramsbotham.
- Ramsbotham, Francis H. (Francis Henry), 1800-1868.
- Date:
- 1851
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The principles and practice of obstetric medicine and surgery : in reference to the process of parturition : illustrated by one hundred and forty-eight figures / by Francis H. Ramsbotham. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![merely of two layers of periosteum, one externally, the other within, con- tinued from the bone across it The space is entirely covered by this extension of the periosteum, except at the uppermost part, where a hole is left, not larger than would permit the passage of a small bougie : through it the obturator vessels and nerve escape from the pelvis. This ligament supplies the place of bone ; for the obturator externus, one of the rotators of the thigh, arises from its outer surface. It appears to be placed here for the purpose of rendering this part of the body lighter than it would be, were a thick piece of bone present instead. There is another point in regard to these three divisions of the os innomi- natum, worthy the consideration of the obstetrician; namely, the relation which each bears to those parts of the pelvis, hereafter to be more particu- larly described,—the brim and outlet. The ilium forms a considerable share of the brim, but none of the outlet; the ischium forms a part of the outlet, but none of the brim; while the pubes enter very largely into the composition of both the brim and outlet; so that the ilium might be greatly deformed, and yet the brim alone suffer; a distorted ischium would only involve the outlet; but if the pubes were of vicious formation, both brim and outlet must necessarily be implicated. The pelvic cavity is bounded posteriorly by the os sacrum, os basilare, or rump bone, and the os coccygis, which are also called the false vertebrse. The os Sacrum,* os Basilare, is the largest bone in the vertebral column: * The origin of the name, Sacrum, as applied to this bone, has given rise to much con- jecture; and although it has occupied the attention of many learned men, it is still involved in obscurity. That it was of very ancient date, is evident from the term tjpoi/ oattov, used by the Greeks even prior to the time of Hippocrates. By some moderns, as Fyfe and Campbell, it is supposed to have been adopted from this particular bone, or the parts connected with it, having been burned as a votive offering in the sacrifices of the ancients, or otherwise dedicated in a special manner to the Deity sought to be propitiated. The only ground for such a supposition that I have been able to trace in the classical writings, is the following line of Menander—ot, Ss tqv oafyvv axpay OvcavtBs; but they were sacrificing the lower part of the loins ; which, indeed, is cited by Stephens, in his Thesaurus, as the authority for this idea. But Menander's works have come down to us in such disjointed fragments, so mutilated and corrupted, that we cannot rely on any passage as genuine, especially when, as is the case here, one line only of a sentence is pre- served, without context, either preceding or following; and had the erudite Stephens been able to adduce a quotation from any other author of repute, he would certainly not have preferred Menander. It is well known, indeed, that in the earlier heathen sacrifices, the whole of the victim was reduced to ashes: and that in the latter ages, when the priests, through their necessity or cupidity, reserved the edible parts for themselves and their fol- lowers, the entrails only were consumed; and no part of the skeleton seems to have been preserved or held more sacred than the rest, with the exception of the skull, which was sometimes nailed up in the temples, and was eventually adopted as an architectural orna- ment. Hesiod (©Eoyowa, v. 521—560) represents Prometheus as having offended Jupiter, by innovating upon the practice of offering the whole animal, and reserving the best part of it for food. See also Hyginus, in his Astronomicon Poeticon, ii. 5, for the same fable ; and consult Saubertus de Sacrificiis veteruni, pp. 232 and 430. The Jews also, in their chief sacrifice of expiation, the Holocaust, or the whole burnt offering, consumed the entire animal by fire upon the altar; and no part of it was either eaten or preserved. Others presume the name to have been derived from its size, being the greatest bone in the spine. (Parr's Dictionary. Monro on the Bones; Plut. x. 83;) and the term t,epa crpiyl (Pollux), employed to designate the spinal canal, might perhaps favour this notion ; though it would also bear the signification, hidden or secret. Rufus Ephesius, the principal Greek authority on anatomical names, says this bone is so called from being the largest in the vertebral column: o yap tf pov odtovv xoAovfxsv Gvvr]9u>s tcov ap^atcov ii pa ta /.isya.'ka xahovvtioi'. We call it the sacred bone, after the ancients, who call large things sacred. (De appellat. partum corp. human, lib. iii., c. 4.) Others, again (Hooper), from its supporting the organs of generation, which were held](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21073594_0039.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
