Ourselves, our food, and our physic / [Benjamin Ridge].

  • Ridge, Benjamin
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ourselves, our food, and our physic / [Benjamin Ridge]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    are firmly attached in their centres by ligamentous hands, through which inorganic fluids pass to mix with and carry away the salts eliminated by them from the blood, as well as any excesses of fluids from the abdomen, as frequently happens in dropsies. In front of the back bone are the great blood-vessels of the heart, which convey the blood from, and carry it hack to, that organ, which will be here¬ after explained. All the organs of the abdomen are in apposition, there is no space between them, and all are kept together by the pressure of its walls, so that however fat or however thin a person may be, Nature provides for this compactness. The Head.—The Cavity of the Head or Skull, con¬ tains the Brain, which consists of two distinct parts :—the large or reflecting portion is situated in the front, sides, and top and is divided into two hemispheres ; the smaller, or in¬ stinctive brain is situated at the back part of the skull. The brain has no arterial blood-vessels of any size passing through it, but is covered with a network of them, the whole being protected by a very tough membranous covering. The volume of blood contained in this network is consider¬ able. All fluids return from the brain through the veins, which are situated in indented channels in the skull. This prevents any pressure upon the brain. The front portion of the brain is divided into two hemispheres, each having a hollow ventricle or small open space which always contains a serous or inorganic fluid for the lubri¬ cation and moisture of the general brain structure. When this is in excess, as frequently happens with children, it produces what is called water on the brain. A larger quantity of fluid is carried away from the brain in propor¬ tion to what is sent to it by the arteries. This is owing to the natural law of self-generating protoplasmic elements within the brain itself. The Nerves are given off from the lower part of the brain and supply all the senses, hence they are called the sentient or feeling nerves. There are others also of a dis¬ tinctive character called motor, or nerves which regulate motion. The spinal marrow also gives off its two classes of nerves, one of motion and one of sensation. The Arteries, Veins, and Capillaries. — The blood
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