The Combe lectures on physiology / lectures by William Stirling.

  • Stirling, William, 1851-1932.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Combe lectures on physiology / lectures by William Stirling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    11/56 (page 9)
    —(great langhter). Resuming his subject the Pro- fessor said that the back-bones were fixed together by what were called intervertebral discs, which were possessed of great elasticity, and in this way acted as buffers, preventing a great number of shocks from reaching the cord. Where two vertebra joined there were two holes, and from these along the back-bone ner\'es were given out right and left. The skull was divided into two parts, tlie facial region and the cranium proper, in wliich lay the brain. In the child the cranium consisted of eight bones, but these became welded togetlier later on so as to form the dome-like arch that was such an admirable protection for the brain. The skull on the outer siu-face where the bones imited was all zig-zag, the bones inter- locking, and so giraig additional protection. In the interior of the skidl it was otherwise. It was straight there where the bones were joined. Wliat was the reason of that ? It was because in the inner part of the skull an altogether different thing had to be dealt ^vith. The iimer part of tlie skull was hard, the outer tough. Tough things might be united together by interlocking digits, but in such a case as in the interior of the skidl, which was very brittle, it was obvious that the parts should not be combined by brittle arrangements. In the face there were a great many bones, but they were all united together into one. The only movable one was the lower jaw. A large number of sense organs— eyes, ears, nose, mouth—were broxight into relation with the skull or cranium. There was a big hole at the back jiart of the cranium which was for the spinal cord, and at tlie base of the brain there were various holes through which passed a number of nerves. The face of man was thro^vn under the cranial ])ortion, while that of the ape ]irojected forward, although among human beings there were some skulls that came very close to that of the ape—(laughter). In the si)inal column tliere were a lot of beautiful curves. They were de- veloped when the erect attitude was assumecl, and along with the intervertebral discs they formed im- portant aids in the diminution of shock. The de- velopment of lateral curves was a thing to be guarded against. It should be seen that children wei'e not put into cramped attitudes, as the tendency to lateral curvature of the spine was fretiuently de- veloped in them quite unawares m that way. IVIany people, again, got lateral curvature from the habit of