Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Outlines of human physiology / by Herbert Mayo. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
365/432 page 343
![contributes with the alternating compactn^s^nd]^p0i;ous-j ness of their texture to protect the ^j^rts withii>. against any kind of injury. , : ■ > The round or cuboid bones are small irregular cubes or portions of cylinders, one series of which forms the vertebral column, another the wrist, and a third the instep: their crust is yet thinner than that of the flat bones; their internal structure varies in different in- stances : the cancelli are fine in the vertebrae; coarse in the tarsal and carpal bones. The texture of cuboid bones is therefore any thing but brittle, and is well cal- culated to deaden the force of jars and concussions of all sorts. To promote the latter object, the cuboid bones are found not separate but in groups, so that the elas- ticity, resulting from many joints and intervening layers of cartilage, gives additional effect to their structure. Another advantage results from forming the parts de- scribed of many bones; a considerable latitude of mo- tion may thus exist in the entire part, and at the same time no single joint have play enough to risk its security. The long or cylindrical bones are employed as levers upon which the muscles act in supporting and impelling the body. The extremities of a cylindrical bone, where it is articulated to those adjoining, as they have the of- fice, so likewise have they the structure of the cuboid bones, a thin outer crust, and strong cancelli: they like- wise generally assume a considerable breadth, which in- creases the strength of the joints. But the intermediate part or shaft of a long bone is contrived differently; its crust is of great thickness, from 5 to ^ of an inch; while the plates belonging to its cancelli are remarkably fine and delicate. The bony matter, spread](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2130595x_0365.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
