It has been acknowledged at all times, that if a muscle is to be made both stronger and quicker in its movements, it should be exercised; that the ligaments and tendons play, in these exercises, an indispensable part, has hitherto (to use the words of a celebrated German physiologist), hardly been sufficiently acknowledged or explained. It is further known, that the principal method now in use of strengthening and rendering flexible the joints and muscles of the fingers in playing the piano, consists in alternately raising and dropping the fingers, and that this method requires very great exertion, and consumes very much time. Now, I have found, by means of many different experiments and exercises, which I have made with the hand and the fingers, that the tight ligaments and skin-folds, intersecting the hand _transversely_, unless they be exercised, and if they be allowed to remain firm, for this very reason, _impede the movements of the muscles_ whenever they are more than ordinarily exerted; while, on the contrary, the stretching of the _transversal ligaments_ produces a remarkable influence on the moveability of the fingers and the hand, facilitates the work of the _muscles_, and imparts to them freedom, steadiness, and precision. By placing the cylinders to be used for this purpose between the fingers for only a very short time, and thereby exercising the _ligaments_ of the hand, both _transversely_ and longitudinally, the movement of the fingers is at once rendered much easier and quicker. This result can only be explained by the fact that the ligaments and folds of the hand, having been stretched by the cylinders, have become loosened, and, therefore, as I said before, impede less the muscles in their fatiguing work. If, on the other hand, all the muscles, ligaments, and tendons are put into motion in both directions, longitudinally and transversely, they soon become strong and flexible. FOOTNOTES: [1] Joseph Hyrtl: Lehrbuch der Anatomie. 4te Auflage. Wien, 1855. Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S., System of Human Anatomy. 8th Edition. London, 1862. CHAPTER II. THE MUSCLES OF THE HAND AND OF THE FINGERS. Leaving aside the vessels and nerves unconnected with our subject, we may describe the hand as being composed of three classes of organs, 1. bones with joints, 2. ligaments, 3. muscles. 1. BONES WITH JOINTS. The hand is subdivided into five separate limbs (fingers), lying one at the side of the other, and being, at the lower end, firmly joined together into one whole. Each of these five limbs (fingers) is composed of a row of bones, having the nature of long bones. The first of these bones, next to the lower arm, is called the metacarpal or middle-hand bone (Fig. 1 _a_); the others are called finger-joints. The thumb has only two finger-joints, the other fingers three each. The _fourth and fifth fingers are the weakest of all_. [Illustration: Fig. 1.]