A Practical Physiology: A Text-Book for Higher SchoolsBlaisdell, Albert F. (Albert Franklin)
Science
A Practical Physiology: A Text-Book for Higher Schools
Blaisdell, Albert F. (Albert Franklin)
Human physiology; Physiology
Experiment 10. Rest the forearm on a table, with the palm up (an
attitude called supination). The radius is on the outer side and
parallel with the ulna If now, without moving the elbow, we turn the
hand (pronation), as if to pick up something from the table, the radius
may be seen and felt crossing over the ulna, while the latter has not
moved.
Illustration: Fig. 19.—Left Clavicle, or Collar Bone. (Anterior
surface.)
45. The Hand. The hand is the executive or essential part of the upper
limb. Without it the arm would be almost useless. It consists of 27
separate bones, and is divided into three parts, the wrist, the palm,
and the fingers.
Illustration: Fig. 20.—Left Humerus. Fig. 21.—Left Radius and Ulna.
The carpus, or wrist, includes 8 short bones, arranged in two rows of
four each, so as to form a broad support for the hand. These bones are
closely packed, and tightly bound with ligaments which admit of ample
flexibility. Thus the wrist is much less liable to be broken than if it
were to consist of a single bone, while the elasticity from having the
eight bones movable on each other, neutralizes, to a great extent, a
shock caused by falling on the hands. Although each of the wrist bones
has a very limited mobility in relation to its neighbors, their
combination gives the hand that freedom of action upon the wrist, which
is manifest in countless examples of the most accurate and delicate
manipulation.
The metacarpal bones are the five long bones of the back of the hand.
They are attached to the wrist and to the finger bones, and may be
easily felt by pressing the fingers of one hand over the back of the
other. The metacarpal bones of the fingers have little freedom of
movement, while the thumb, unlike the others, is freely movable. We are
thus enabled to bring the thumb in opposition to each of the fingers, a
matter of the highest importance in manipulation. For this reason the
loss of the thumb disables the hand far more than the loss of either of
the fingers. This very significant opposition of the thumb to the
fingers, furnishing the complete grasp by the hand, is characteristic
of the human race, and is wanting in the hand of the ape, chimpanzee,
and ourang-outang.
The phalanges, or finger bones, are the fourteen small bones arranged
in three rows to form the fingers. Each finger has three bones; each
thumb, two.
The large number of bones in the hand not only affords every variety of
movement, but offers great resistance to blows or shocks. These bones
are united by strong but flexible ligaments. The hand is thus given
strength and flexibility, and enabled to accomplish the countless
movements so necessary to our well-being.
In brief, the hand is a marvel of precise and adapted mechanism,
capable not only of performing every variety of work and of expressing
many emotions of the mind, but of executing its orders with
inconceivable rapidity.
The Bones of the Lower Limbs.
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