Volume 1

Lectures on anatomy : interspersed with practical remarks / by B. B. Cooper.

  • Bransby Blake Cooper
Date:
1829-1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on anatomy : interspersed with practical remarks / by B. B. Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    29/706
    moving- in a proper direction on the bone to which it is at- tached. The extent of power in a rnuselcj is proportioned to its mag-nitude, or to the number of fasciculi composing- it: lienee arise the different degrees of force, or power, that are found to be exerted in leaping-, running-, rowing*, throwing- the discus, and other corporeal exercises. When you have attentively considered, how the different part§ composing* the fabric of the human body are capable of being- separately or simultaneously moved by the appropriate org-ans assig-ned to them, and how the muscles produce the complicated and infinitely varied motions of the machine, you will be fully prepared to examine the physiolog-y of locomotion. In walking-, for instance, the first act required is, to fix one part of the body, so that the other, released from its ofiice of con- tributing support, may be free to perform muscular exertion at the dictate of the will. Thus while one leg sustains the whole weig’ht of the body, the muscles of the other are brought into action; the limb is raised and extended ; the body is brought forward by the muscles of the fixed side, and its weight is transferred to the advanced limb, which in its turn becomes fixed, and sets the other at liberty to advance. In adverting* to locomotion, I have already supposed that the great purposes of this faculty, are to enable the animal to approach those objects which may serve as aliment, and to shun those from which it may apprehend danger, moles- tation, or annoyance. Here we perceive a great distinction between the two great classes of organized bodies, the animal being capable of changing its situation, wlfile the vegetable is necessitated to remain stationary. By the loco- motive faculty, man is enabled to procure all the substances capable of being converted into nutriment, by the action of the digestive organs. Of such substances, there is an almost infinite variety; man being, in the phraseology of the natu- ralist, an omniverous feeder. The food is conveyed by the hand to the mouth, which is opened for its reception ; it is then masticated by the co-operation of the upper and lower c
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3