Part 8

FIG. 16.

THE TENDONS.--The ends of the muscles are generally attached to the bone by strong, flexible, but inelastic tendons. [Footnote: The tendons may be easily seen in the leg of a turkey as it comes on our table; so we may study Physiology while we pick the bones.] The muscular fibers spring from the sides of the tendon, so that more of them can act upon the bone than if they went directly to it. Besides, the small, insensible tendon can better bear the exposure of passing over a joint, and be more easily lodged in some protecting groove, than the broad, sensitive muscle. This mode of attachment gives to the limbs strength, and elegance of form. Thus, for example, if the large muscles of the arm extended to the hand, they would make it bulky and clumsy. The tendons, however, reach only to the wrist, whence fine cords pass to the fingers (Fig. 16).

Here we notice two other admirable arrangements. 1. If the long tendons at the wrist on contracting should rise, projections would be made and thus the beauty of the slender joint be marred. To prevent this, a stout band or bracelet of ligament holds them down to their place. 2. In order to allow the tendon which moves the last joint of the finger to pass through, the tendon which moves the second joint divides at its attachment to the bone (Fig. 16). This is the most economical mode of packing the muscles, as any other practicable arrangement would increase the bulk of the slender finger.

FIG. 17.

Since the tendon can not always pull in the direction of the desired motion, some contrivance is necessary to meet the want. The tendon (B) belonging to one of the muscles of the eye, for example, passes through a ring of cartilage, and thus a rotary motion is secured.

FIG. 18.

THE LEVERS OF THE BODY. [Footnote: A lever is a stiff bar resting on a point of support, called the fulcrum (F), and having connected with it a weight (W) to be lifted, and a power (P) to move it. There are three classes of levers according to the arrangement of the power, weight, and fulcrum. In the first class, the F is between the P and W; in the second, the W is between the P and F; and in the third, the P is between the W and F (Fig. 18). A pump handle is an example of the first; a lemon squeezer, of the second; and a pair of fire tongs, of the third. See "Popular Physics," pp. 81-83, for a full description of this subject, and for many illustrations.]--In producing the motions of the body, the muscles use the bones as levers. We see an illustration of the first class of levers in the movements of the head. The back or front of the head is the weight to be lifted, the backbone is the fulcrum on which the lever turns, and the muscles at the back or front of the neck exert the power by which we toss or bow the head.

FIG. 19.

When we raise the body on tiptoe, we have an instance of the second class. Here, our toes resting on the ground form the fulcrum the muscles of the calf (gas-troc-ne'-mi-us, j and so-le'-us, Fig. 14), acting through the tendon of the heel, [Footnote: This is called the Tendon of Achilles (k, Fig. 14) and is so named because, as the fable runs, when Achilles was an infant his mother held him by the heel while she dipped him in the River Styx, whose water had the power of rendering one invulnerable to any weapon. His heel, not being wet, was his weak point, to which Paris directed the fatal arrow--"This tendon," says Mapother, "will bear one thousand pounds weight before it will break." The horse is said to be "hamstrung," and is rendered useless, when the Tendon of Achilles is cut. (see p. 284.)] are the power and the weight is borne by the ankle joint.

An illustration of the third class is found in lifting the hand from the elbow. The hand is the weight, the elbow the fulcrum, and the power is applied by the biceps muscle at its attachment to the radius (A, Fig. 19.) In this form of the lever there is great loss of force, because it is applied at such a distance from the weight, but there is a gain of velocity, since the hand moves so far by such a slight contraction of the muscle. The hand is required to perform quick motions, and therefore this mode of attachment is desirable.

The nearer the power is applied to the resistance, the more easily the work is done. In the lower jaw, for example, the jaw is the weight, the fulcrum is the hinge joint at the back, and the muscles (temporal, d, and the mas'-se'ter, e, Fig. 14) on each side are the power. [Footnote: We may feel the contraction of the masseter by placing our hand on the face when we work the jaw, while the temporal can be readily detected by putting the fingers on the temple while we are chewing. The tendon of the muscle (digastric)--one of those which open the jaw--passes through a pulley (c, Fig. 14) somewhat like the one in the eye.] They act much closer to the resistance than those in the hand, since here we desire force, and there, speed.

FIG. 20.

THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE BONES AT THE JOINTS not only affords greater surface for the attachment of the muscles, as we have seen, but also enables them to work to better advantage. Thus, in Fig. 20 it is evident that a muscle acting in the line f b would not bend the lower limb so easily as if it were acting in the line f k, since in the former case its force would be about all spent in drawing the bones more closely together, while in the latter it would pull more nearly at a right angle. Thus the tendon f, by passing over the patella, which is itself pushed out by the protuberance b of the thigh bone, pulls at a larger angle, [Footnote: The chief use of the processes of the spine (Fig. 6) and other bones is, in the same way, to throw out the point on which the power acts as far from the fulcrum as possible. The projections of the ulna ("funny bone") behind the elbow, and that of the heel bone to which the Tendon of Achilles is attached, are excellent illustrations (Fig. 1).] and so the leg is thrown forward with ease in walking and with great force in kicking.

HOW WE STAND ERECT.--The joints play so easily, and the center of gravity in the body is so far above the foot, that the skeleton can not of itself hold our bodies upright. Thus it requires the action of many muscles to maintain this position. The head so rests upon the spine as to tend to fall in front, but the muscles of the neck steady it in its place. [Footnote: In animals the jaws are so heavy, and the place where the head and spine join is so far back, that there can be no balance as there is in man. There are therefore large muscles in their necks. We readily find that we have none if we get on "all fours" and try to hold up the head. On the other hand, gorillas and apes can not stand erect like man, for the reason that their head, trunk, legs, etc., are not balanced by muscles, so as to be in line with one another.] The hips incline forward, but are held erect by the strong muscles of the back. The trunk is nicely balanced on the head of the thigh bones. The great muscles of the thigh acting over the kneepan tend to bend the body forward, but the muscles of the calf neutralize this action. The ankle, the knee, and the hip lie in nearly the same line, and thus the weight of the body rests directly on the keystone of the arch of the foot. So perfectly do these muscles act that we never think of them until science calls our attention to the subject, and yet to acquire the necessary skill to use them in our infancy needed patient lessons, much time, and many hard knocks.

FIG. 21.

HOW WE WALK.--Walking is as complex an act as standing. It is really a perilous performance, which has become safe only because of constant practice. We see how violent it is when we run against a post in the dark, and find with what headlong force we were hurling ourselves forward. Holmes has well defined walking as a perpetual falling with a constant self-recovery. Standing on one foot, we let the body fall forward, while we swing the other leg ahead like a pendulum. Planting that foot on the ground, to save the body from falling farther, we then swing the first foot forward again to repeat the same operation. [Footnote: It is a curious fact that one side of the body tends to outwalk the other; and so, when a man is lost in the woods, he often goes in a circle, and at last comes round to the spot whence he started.]

The shorter the pendulum, the more rapidly it vibrates; and so short- legged people take quicker and shorter steps than long-legged ones. [Footnote: In this respect, Tom Thumb was to Magrath, whose skeleton, eight and one half feet high, is now in the Dublin Museum, what a little fast-ticking, French mantel clock is to a big, old-fashioned, upright, corner timepiece.] We are shorter when walking than when standing still, because of this falling forward to take a step in advance. [Footnote: Women find that a gown that will swing clear of the ground when they are standing still, will drag the street when they are walking. The length of the step may be increased by muscular effort, as when a line of soldiers keep step in spite of their having legs of different lengths. Such a mode of walking is necessarily fatiguing. (See p. 280.)]

In running, we incline the body more, and so, as it were, fall faster. When we walk, one foot is on the ground all the time, and there is an instant when both feet are planted upon it; but in running there is an interval of time in each step when both feet are off the ground, and the body is wholly unsupported. As we step alternately with the feet, we are inclined to turn the body first to one side and then to the other. This movement is sometimes counterbalanced by swinging the hand on the opposite side. [Footnote: In ordinary walking the speed is nearly four miles an hour, and can be kept up for a long period. But exercise and a special aptitude for it enable some men to walk great distances in a relatively short space of time. Trained walkers have gone seventy-five miles in twenty hours, and walked the distance of thirty-seven miles at the rate of five miles an hour. The mountaineers of the Alps are generally good walkers, and some of them are not less remarkable for endurance than for speed. Jacques Balmat, who was the first to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, at sixteen years of age could walk from the hamlet of the Pélerins to the mountain of La Côte in two hours,--a distance which the best- trained travelers required from five to six hours to get over. At the time of his last attempt to reach the top of Mont Blanc, this same guide, then twenty years old, passed six days and four nights without sleeping or reposing a single moment. One of his sons, Édouard Balmat, left Paris to join his regiment at Genoa; he reached Chamouni the fifth day at evening, having walked three hundred and forty miles. After resting two days, he set off again for Genoa, where he arrived in two days. Several years afterward, this same man left the baths at Louèche at two o'clock in the morning, and reached Chamouni at nine in the evening, having walked a distance equal to about seventy-five miles in nineteen hours. In 1844, an old guide of De Saussure, eighty years old, left the hamlet of Prats, in the valley of Chamouni, in the afternoon, and reached the Grand-Mulets at ten in the evening; then, after resting some hours, he climbed the glacier to the vicinity of the Grand Plateau, which has an altitude of about thirteen thousand feet, and then returned to his village without stopping.--Wonders of the Body.]

THE MUSCULAR SENSE.--When we lift an object, we feel a sensation of weight, which we can compare with that experienced in lifting another body. [Footnote: If a small ivory ball be allowed to roll down the cheek toward the lips, it will appear to increase in weight. In general, the more sensitive parts of the body recognize smaller differences in weight, and the right hand is more accurate than the left. We are very apt, however, to judge of the weight of a body from previous conceptions. Thus, shortly after Sir Humphrey Davy discovered the metal potassium, he placed a piece of it in the hand of Dr. Pierson, who exclaimed: "Bless me! How heavy it is!" Really, however, potassium is so light that it will float on water like cork.] By balancing it in the hand. The muscular sense is useful to us in many ways. It guides us in standing or moving. We gratify it when we walk erect and with an elastic step, and by dancing, jumping, skating, and gymnastic exercises.

NECESSITY OF EXERCISE.--The effect of exercise upon a muscle is very marked. [Footnote: The greater size of the breast (pectoral muscle) of a pigeon, as compared with that of a duck, shows how muscle increases with use. The breast of a chicken is white because it is not used for flight, and therefore gets little blood.] By use it grows larger, and becomes hard, compact, and darker-colored; by disuse it decreases in size, and becomes soft, flabby, and pale.

Violent exercise, however, is injurious, since we then tear down faster than nature can build up. Feats of strength are not only hurtful, but dangerous. Often the muscles are strained or ruptured, and blood vessels burst in the effort to outdo one's companions. [Footnote: Instances have been known of children falling dead from having carried to excess so pleasant and healthful an amusement as jumping the rope, and of persons rupturing the Tendon of Achilles in dancing. The competitive lifting of heavy weights is unwise, sometimes fatal.] (See p. 278.)

Two thousand years ago, Isocrates, the Greek rhetorician, said: "Exercise for health, not for strength." The cultivation of muscle for its own sake is a return to barbarism, while it enfeebles the mind, and ultimately the body. The ancient gymnasts are said to have become prematurely old, and the trained performers of our own day soon suffer from the strain they put upon their muscular system. Few men have sufficient vigor to become both athletes and scholars. Exercise should, therefore, merely supplement the deficiency of our usual employment. A sedentary life needs daily, moderate exercise, which always stops short of fatigue. This is a law of health. (See p. 280.)

No education is complete which fails to provide for the development of the muscles. Recesses should be as strictly devoted to play as study hours are to work. Were gymnastics or calisthenics as regular an exercise as grammar or arithmetic, fewer pupils would be compelled to leave school on account of ill health; while spinal curvatures, weak backs, and ungraceful gaits would no longer characterize so many of our best institutions.

TIME FOR EXERCISE.--We should not exercise after long abstinence from food, nor immediately after a meal, unless the meal or the exercise be very light. There is an old-fashioned prejudice in favor of exercise before breakfast--an hour suited to the strong and healthy, but entirely unfitted to the weak and delicate. On first rising in the morning, the pulse is low, the skin relaxed, and the system susceptible to cold. Feeble persons, therefore, need to be braced with food before they brave the outdoor air.

WHAT KIND OF EXCERCISE TO TAKE.--For children, games are unequaled. Walking, the universal exercise, [Footnote: The custom of walking, so prevalent in England, has doubtless much to do with the superior physique of its people. It is considered nothing for a woman to take a walk of eight or ten miles, and long pedestrian excursions are made to all parts of the country. The benefits which accrue from such an open-air life are sadly needed by the women of our own land. A walk of half a dozen miles should be a pleasant recreation for any healthy person.] is beneficial, as it takes one into the open air and sunlight. Running is better, since it employs more muscles, but it must not be pushed to excess, as it taxes the heart, and may lead to disease of that organ. Rowing is more effectual in its general development of the system. Swimming employs the muscles of the whole body, and is a valuable acquirement, as it may be the means of saving life. Horseback riding is a fine accomplishment, and refreshes both mind and body. Gymnastic or calisthenic exercises bring into play all the muscles of the body, and when carefully selected, and not immoderately employed, are preferable to any other mode of indoor exercise. [Footnote: The employment of the muscles in exercise not only benefits their especial structure, but it acts on the whole system. When the muscles are put in action, the capillary blood vessels with which they are supplied become more rapidly charged with blood, and active changes take place, not only in the muscles, but in all the surrounding tissues. The heart is required to supply more blood, and accordingly beats more rapidly in order to meet the demand. A larger quantity of blood is sent through the lungs, and larger supplies of oxygen are taken in and carried to the various tissues. The oxygen, by combining with the carbon of the blood and the tissues, engenders a larger quantity of heat, which produces an action on the skin, in order that the superfluous warmth may be disposed of. The skin is thus exercised, as it were, and the sudoriparous and sebaceous glands are set at work. The lungs and skin are brought into operation, and the lungs throw off large quantities of carbonic acid, and the skin large quantities of water, containing in solution matters which, if retained, would produce disease in the body. Wherever the blood is sent, changes of a healthful character occur. The brain and the rest of the nervous system are invigorated, the stomach has its powers of digestion improved, and the liver, pancreas, and other organs perform their functions with more vigor. By want of exercise, the constituents of the food which pass into the blood are not oxidized, and products which produce disease are engendered. The introduction of fresh supplies of oxygen induced by exercise oxidizes these products, and renders them harmless. As a rule, those who exercise most in the open air will live the longest.--LANKESTER.] (See p. 280.)

THE WONDERS OF THE MUSCLES.--The grace, ease, and rapidity with which the muscles contract are astonishing. By practice, they acquire a facility which we call mechanical. The voice may utter one thousand five hundred letters in a minute, yet each requires a distinct position of the vocal organs. We train the muscles of the fingers till they glide over the keys of the piano, executing the most exquisite and difficult harmony. In writing, each letter is formed by its peculiar motions, yet we make them so unconsciously that a skillful penman will describe beautiful curves while thinking only of the idea that the sentence is to express. The mind of the violinist is upon the music which his right hand is executing, while his left determines the length of the string and the character of each note so carefully that not a false sound is heard, although the variation of a hair's breadth would cause a discord. In the arm of a blacksmith, the biceps muscle may grow into the solidity almost of a club; the hand of a prize fighter will strike a blow like a sledge hammer; while the engraver traces lines invisible to the naked eye, and the fingers of the blind acquire a delicacy that almost supplies the place of the missing sense.

DISEASES, ETC.--l. St. Vitus's Dance is a disease of the voluntary muscles, whereby they are in frequent, irregular, and spasmodic motion beyond the control of the will. All causes of excitement, and especially of fear, should be avoided, and the general health of the patient invigorated, as this disease is closely connected with a derangement of the nervous system.

2. Convulsions are an involuntary contraction of the muscles. Consciousness is wanting, while the limbs may be stiff or in spasmodic action. (See p. 261.)