Human osteology comprising a description of the bones with delineations of the attachments of the muscles : the general and microscopic structure of bone and its development / by Luther Holden.

  • Holden, Luther, 1815-1905.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Human osteology comprising a description of the bones with delineations of the attachments of the muscles : the general and microscopic structure of bone and its development / by Luther Holden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    18/439 (page 4)
    Of all animals, the bones of birds (especially of the predaceous kind) contain the largest proportion of earthy matter. Hence their great compactness and white colour. The bones of mammalia contain the next proportion: those of reptiles the next; and least of all those of fishes. Importance of Of the earthy ingredients of bone, the phos- phosphate of lime, pj^j^^g ^^^^ i^o^^jg f^j. ^j^g fi^g^. j.^^]^ . y^qj^^q it is commonly called bone earth. Adult bone contains 57 per cent, of it, and not more than 8 per cent, of the carbonate of lime. The latter is the principal ingredient in the hardening of shells. But the phosphate of lime is made use of to harden bone, because it forms a harder compound with animal matter than the carbonate. What can be harder than the enamel of the teeth ? And this con- sists of a very large proportion of phosphate of lime combined with animal matter. According to Berzelius, there is only 2 per cent, of animal matter in the enamel, and of the remaining 98 parts, 88^ consist of phosphate of lime. Phosphate of lime enters not only as the principal earthy ingredient into the composition of bone, but is contained, more or less, in nearly all the tissues of the body. Of all inorganic materials it appears to be the most essential both for vegetable and animal life. Therefore it is not only a most important article of diet, but also a necessary manure. Those parts of plants which experience h,as taught us to be the most nutritious, contain the largest proportion of the phosphates, — such as bread-corn, peas, beans, and lentils. * It has been ascertained by experi- ment, that if animals have their entire supply of phosphate of lime cut oflf, after some weeks of illness, they are attacked with diarrhoea, which soon kills them. Their bones are found very much softened; and it is not unlikely that the phosphate is absorbed from their bones to supply other more important structures, such as the nerves and muscles. It is the quantity of phosphate of lime in the bones which makes them so valuable as manure. The bones are boiled to extract the gelatin or glue; afterwards they are crushed in a mill, and, as bone dust, form an extensive article of commerce. * Liebig's Letters on Chemistry, p. 522.