Anatomy, Artistic; Animals in art; Zoological illustration
We know that in quadrupeds, and especially in the domestic animals, the
humerus is relatively short in proportion to the forearm. We have
already seen, in dealing with the bones, that whilst in the human
species the humerus is longer than the forearm, in the dog and cat these
two segments of the fore-limb are of equal length, and that the humerus
of the horse is, on the contrary, much shorter. Now, let us suppose the
human humerus to be shorter than it is in reality; the anterior muscles
undergoing, very naturally, the same reduction, will be uncovered only
slightly by those above--the deltoid and the great pectoral--or will
remain completely hidden by them. Thus would be found realized the
disposition which we meet with in quadrupeds of the muscles of this
region.
With regard to the posterior muscular mass of the arm, it does not
undergo the same change. The muscle which constitutes it--the triceps
cubiti--occupies, on the contrary, a greater area. Let us suppose,
further--for it is the best method of comprehending the homologies which
now occupy our attention--the humerus of man to be shortened as before,
and directed downwards and backwards (as in quadrupeds), this bone would
form an acute angle with the axillary border of the scapula. Let us
suppose also that the long portion of the triceps, instead of arising
solely from the superior part of this axillary border, is attached to
the whole length of the latter, and that the triceps fills the whole
interior of the angle formed by the arm and the shoulder. We then shall
have an idea of what the triceps is in quadrupeds. It is necessary to
add that the general resemblance would be still more complete if the arm
were firmly supported by the side of the thorax, because in quadrupeds
it occupies an analogous position, determined by the arrangement of the
muscles which, proceeding from the trunk and neck, are attached to it.
Anterior Region
=Biceps Cubiti= (Fig. 68, 21; Fig. 72, 10, 11).--This muscle, also
called _the long flexor of the forearm_, does not merit the name except
by its analogy with the corresponding muscle in man. Indeed, in the
domestic animals it is not divided into two parts; it is represented by
a single fasciculus, long and fusiform, situated on the front of the
humerus, and directed obliquely downwards and backwards, as the latter,
on its part, is also inclined.
It arises above from a tubercle at the base of the coracoid process,
which surmounts the glenoid cavity of the scapula. Its tendon, which is
highly developed in the solipeds, occupies the bicipital groove. We
remember that in these latter the groove in question is divided into two
channels by a median prominence.
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