BON
BON
Bartholin alio gives an inftance of an anofteus, er bonelefs child, fhevvn at Briftol, whofe arms and legs were flexible like aglove. Barthol. Act. Med. Hafn. T. 5. Obf. 103. p. 275. See alio Blaf. Comm. ad Veiling, c. ?-. p. i>- Ina bene we confider divers things ; the body, which isthe mid- dle or greater part, called by Galen diopbfis ; the heads, which are the n-reat protuberances at the ends c jthe neck, the part tm- m> diatel > und r .he head; fupercilia, the extremities of the fides of a cavity at the end of a bone; ridges, the prominent, fali- ent parts in the length of the body of the bone f .— [ e Gagliard- Anat. P. 1. c. 1. Obf. 2. Heift. Comp. Anat. §. 45, feq. f Le CJerc, Comp. Surg. p. 10.]
Some cavities are formed for articulation, called cotyles and glews, which contain a mucilaginous humour, feparated from the glands of that name ; others, not fubfervient to articulation, receive different names, according to their figures ; fome being called foramina, or holes ; others, faffs, or trenches ; others, Juki, or furrows, &c. Heijl. lib. cit. §. 56, feq. p.2i. Vat. Phyf. Exper. p. 660. Horn. Micro, p. 7, feq. Bones, with regard to their form and ftructure, may be divided into flat or broad, which have thin folid fides, and a thick in- termediate fpongy part; and round, which are more hollow, having thicker and ftronger walls, Monro, lib. cit. p. 26. Bones may be divided with regard to their confiltence, 1. In- to rocky, offa petrofa, which arc hardeft of all ; as the temple bones, thofe of the ear, the thigh bone, tibia, &V. 2. Soft bones, ojfa mollia ; as the ethmoid es, vertebra?, carpus, tarfus, and the epiphyfes. 3. Solid bones, ofjh JoHda, thofe without any cavities; as the omoplata, ifchion, the teeth, &c. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 4. p. 378. voc. Os.
The bones, in refpect of their internal ftructure, may be divided into thofe which have a notable cavity within, filled with mar- row, as the bones of the arms and legs ; and thofe which have 110 fuch cavity, or marrow, as the bones of the fkull and ribs, fffe. Drake, Anthrop. 1. 3. c. 16, p. 363. Little hones are denominated ojficles. See Ossicle. Bones are alfo divided according to the parts wherein they are found, into the bones of the head, the feet, the thorax, tsV. from, their offices, figures, &c many have like wife proper names, as the os facruni, jugale, lacrymale, coccendix, pubis, csV. Spongeous bones, cjjh fpongeofa, thofe full of large pores, formed like honey-combs.
All the bones are full of pores g , except perhaps the teeth : whence it is that fkeletons imbibe the moifture of the air, and increafe in weight, as the atmofphere does in humidity h .— p Boyle. Phil. Work. Abr. T. 1. p. 448. h Id. ibid. T. 2. p. 382, &T. 1. p. 449.]
Bones have their veflels and circulating fluids, and, in fhort, the fame general texture which other parts have ; folidity, and the ftronger cohefion of parts, are the only evident diftinguifh- ing characters of the compofltion of bones. Monro, ap. Med. Efl'. Edinb. Vol. 5. Art. 24.
There is at leaft one artery for each bone, feveral having more, for the conveyance and fecretion of the medullary matter. After the ingrefs of the artery into the bone, it divides into a number of branches, which are diftributed quaqua verfum on the internal membrane K The blood, which remains after the fecretion of the marrow, is returned by proper veins, fome of which pafs out of the bone either at the fame hole whereby the artery entered it, or very near it k ^— [* Niewent. Relig. Phi- lof. Cont. ii. feet. 10. §. 13. p. 114. k Monro, lib. citat. p. 22. See alfo Lemery, in Hift. Acad. Scienc. An. 1704. p. 44. Vefling. lib. cit. c. 2. p. 16. U Blaf. Comm. ad eund. Ibid. Junck. Confp. Phyfiol. Tab. 25. p. 363, feq. Hift. Acad. Scienc. An. 1700. p. 19 ]
The bones, Mr. Hales obferves, do not grow in the joints or articulations, which would deftroy their motion : but this, we doubt, would be difficult to make out. Phil. Tranf. N° 398. P- 3H-
It is demonftrable, that of whatever figures bones are, and in whatever manner their fibres are difpofed, their ftren°th muff always be in a ratio compounded of their quantity of bony matter, and of the diftance of their center of gravity from the center of motion. Monro, lib. cit. P. 1. p. 28. Med. EfT, Edinb. T. 1. Art. 10. p. 112, feq. Hift. Acad] Scienc. An. 1702. p. 157.
Hence, on a double account, the part of a bone, formerly frac- tured, muft be ftronger than any other part of that fame bone, became the diameter is enlarged, and the quantity of matter is increafed. Monro, ib. p. 29.
The human bones have been fometimes known to grow foft and flexible, fo as to bend any way with lefs difficulty than the mufctdar parts of a healthy performs leg. See Phil. Tranfact. N" 470. feet. 3.
Bones have fometimes been found incrufted with ftone, which has given rife to accounts of fkeletons petrified. See Philof. Tranfact. N J 477. p. 557, feq.
By difliliation in a retort, the bones refolve into phlegm, fpi- rit, volatile fait, fetid oil, and caput mortuum, which, calcin- ed in an open fire, leaves a white earth, without any fixed fait. This Lift appears to be the proper conftituent part of the bones, fincej after the other principles are feparated, the earth ftill re- tains the former fhape of the bone, though it be fo brittle, that, tut the leaft touch, it moulders into duij. When moiftened
with a little water or oil, it recovers fome degree of teruu again ; but cannot be rcftored to its former firmnefs, Monro, lib. cit. P. 1. p. 18, feq. Hei/l. Comp. Anat. §. 41. Sec alfo Grew, t)iic, of Mlxt. f c a. 2. c. 3. §.18.
Bones mi 'croft op n :a!ly examined. On viewing the bones with the; affiftance of good glafles, their fuperficia! part is found to con- fift of a great many fmall veflels, and fome few of a larger fize : which laft, when they come to the furface of the Iv.e, appear invefted with either a membrane or a bony fubllance, perfectly tranfparent. The infidcof the lone is a fpongy or cellular fuV ftance, confiding of long particles, clofely united ; and thefe are compofed of numberlcfs fmall veflels, clofely united, and fome running lengthways, others taking their courfe toward the fide of the bony fibres ; which, notwithstanding their great number of apertures, are extremely hard, and lie fome paral- lel, and others perpendicular to the length of the bone. Mr. Lewenhoeck difcovered once, in a fmall bit of a fhin bene, four or five veflels, with apertures large enough for a filk to pafs through, each whereof feemed furnifhed with a valve, difpofed in fuch a manner as to let out what was contained in the vcflel, but fuffer nothing to return into it.
The way to examine the bones, is to fhave off, with a very fharp penknife, extremely thin pieces, lengthwife, crofiwife, and oblique!y,and thefe from the outfide,infide and middle of the bone, and apply thefe, fome dry, others moiftened with water, to the focus of the double microfcope ; and thus the veflels will be feen in all directions : but the beft way of feeing the bony ftructure, is by putting the bones in a very clear fire till they are red hot, and then taking them out carefully, you will find the bony cells, though tender, perfect and entire ; and, being now quite empty, they may be viewed with eafe and pleafure. Ba- ker's Microfcope, p. 143. Difeafes of the Bones.— The difeafes to which the bones are fub- ject, are fractures ', luxations, fifllires, caries m , cancers, nodes, rickets, tophi, exoftofes n or excrcfcences °, isfe. To which may be added other lefs ufual diforders, as preternatural hard- neftes, almoft to a degree of petrefaction P, and ftiffhefles to the condition of wax 1, unions or coalitions of all the bones of the body into one r , creaking of the bones in fcorbutic cafes % worms in the cavities of the bones l , &c. Mr. Petit gives an in- ftance of the carnification of the bones; wherein, by a change contrary to that of their firft formation, they were reconverted from bones to flefh, or cartilages u .— [ ' Gorr. Med. Defin. p. 212. voc. wsJoyfu*. Horn. Microl. feet. 1. §. m. p. 32. m Boerh. Aph. §. 542, feq. n Mem. Acad. Scienc. An. 1706. p. 318. Gorr. lib. cit. p. 145. voc. M, Phil. Tranfact. N° 251. p. 140. • Vid. Le Glen, Comp. Anat, c. 8. p. 23. feq. Boerb. Aph. §.512, feq. p Vat. Phyf. Exper. P. 2. feet. 5, c. 6. Blaf. Comm. ad Veiling, c. 2. p. 14. 1 Bar* thai Aft. Med. Hafn. T. 3. Obf. 24. p. 38. Blaf ubi fupra, p. 15. r Phil. Tranf. N° zi5. p. 21. ■ Mem. Acad. Sci- enc. An. 1699. p. 238. l Phil. Tranf. N° 379. p. 420. u Mem. Acad. Scienc. An. 1720. p. 311. Item, Hift. p. 19 ] The operations praclifed in difeafes of the bones, are excifion, amputation, perforation, trepanation, fetting or replacing, ex- foliation, fhaving, filing, fcrV. Mem. Acad. Scienc, An. 1718, p. 392. Horn. Microl. p. 40, feq. Bones, wounds of. — As blunt initruments ufually make fractures of the bones, fo fharp ones, fuch as fwords, fpcars, &c. do, properly fpcaking, fometimes wound thsm ; and thefe wounds cannot be fuftcred, without a great variety of fymptoms, which are often very dangerous, according to the fize tnd depth of the wound, and the nature of the wounded part. Such flio-ht wounds as do not penetrate deep into the bone, are often at- tended with no great danger, efpecially if proper care be taken in the dreffing of them, and the injured bone be as much as pof- fible kept covered with its integuments, from the injuries of the external air. All fat and oily medicines muft be wholly reject- ed in wounds of this kind, as great enemies to the bones. But when wounds of this kind penetrate deep, and wholly divide the bone and its adjacent parts, or violently affect any of the organs necefTary to life, in the head, neck, back~<W, or breaft, with a puncture or divifion of the longer veins, arteries, nerves, and tendons of the upper and lower limbs, the danger is always great, the cure difficult, and death too often the confequence. Petit has advifed, that, in wounds of the boms, if the folutioii. be inflicted lengthwife, the lips of the wound are to be clofed and united by the uniting bandage; but if the wounds are very oblique, or wholly tranfverfe, then they are to be joined toge- ther by future, and the eighteen-headed bandage; but this' is certainly a wrong method in many cafes of this kind. Indeed, in the firft kind of- thefe wounds, and when they are very flight, as when the fkull is not wholly, nor indeed very deeply penetrated, and that without contufion, nor the brain much hurt, this method may do very well ; but when the contrary of thefe mild fymptoms are the cafe, a very different method of cure is to be attempted ; the wound is to be kept open with lint, and not healed up till thoroughly cleanfed ; for, by a too fpeedy clofure of fuch wounds, the very wofft fymptoms, and even death very often, are brought on. So alfo, in flight, oblique, or tranfverfe wounds of the bones, the future, or the eighteen-headed bandage, may be ufed with fafety and fuccefs ; but thefe arc feldom necefTary; and oblique wounds of the head, forehead, and cranium, if not violent
