Animal physiology for beginners / by Vincent T. Murché.

  • Murché, Vincent T. (Vincent Thomas)
Date:
[between 1880 and 1889?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Animal physiology for beginners / by Vincent T. Murché. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/172 page 7
    spirit of salt, and can be purchased at the chemist’s.) When taken out, the bone will be found to have lost about two-thirds of its weight. The acid dissolves out all the mineral matters in the bone, and nothing remains but the animal matter. The bone preserves completely its former shape, but is now soft and flexible, and may be easily twisted into any form. When it is untwisted its original shape may be restored. It is important to remember that all bones are abundantly supplied with blood-vessels, and thus although bone as we generally see it is almost white, yet living bone has a reddish colour owing to the blood in these vessels. The bones are enveloped in a thin tough membrane or skin known as the periosteum. The blood-vessels branch off from this membrane, and extend in every direction through the pores of the bone. Bones are usually divided into three kinds, viz.:—hollow,. flat) and irregular bones. The Hollow or Long Bones are found in the limbs, and consist of a long, cylindrical shaft and two rounded ends covered with a layer of gristle. (See Figs. 13, 14, and 16.) The hollow interior of these bones is filled with a fatty substance called the marrow. You have all no doubt seen the bone in a leg of mutton or in a piece of leg of beef, and you probably have seen your mother break the bone in order to get this marrow out. The Plat Bones generally consist of two layers of hard bony tissue, having a light, spongy kind of bony substance between them. The principal flat bones are those forming the skull. The infinite wisdom of God is manifest in this beautiful arrangement. The skull has to lodge and protect the brain, and this delicate organ is secured from injury by the peculiar spongy structure of these flat boues. A blow on the head is not so likely to injure the brain, as it would be if the skull bones were of the same density throughout. The force of the blow, instead of being transmitted through the bones, as it
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3