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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Natural Theology- No . X . —Of the Posture of the Human Body . f > $ &
Untitled Article
which is the only active part , and its thin , cordy , fibrous and shining extremities or tendons : the only purposes of the last are to fix the muscles to the moveable part in a concentrated farm , in consequence of which
a greater power is permitted to act , a * manual labour is assisted by ropes , especially in moving very heavy bodies , hence they are principally employed in implanting muscles upon bones , and are not discoverable in the heart , stomach and intestines .
Muscles , no doubt , are the organs of motion in all animals , although we cannot always detect their peculiar structure in some of the minuter organs , and still less in the smaller animals . The whole fleshy portion of the human body consists of muscles ,
that is of distinct fleshy bundles , whose parts , though apparently in contact , are still separate , sliding over each other , in their alternate contractions and elongations , and having both ends fixed into the parts which they are intended to move .
Muscles are of different shapes and sizes , according to the degree of force required of them , and the form of the part on which they are situated : those on the body are usually flat and broad , while the muscles of the
extremities are of a long , round figure with tendinous ends . Each muscle performs its action by contracting both ends towards the centre , when one of these ends is a fixed point , the other to which the bone is united is
in every movement necessarily drawn towards it , and thus by the co-operation of many muscles , the motion of the limb , and even of the whole body is effected : the instant any motion is accomplished , the muscles , which performed it , relax , and allow their ends to elongate to their former position .
It may be noticed here , that the end of the muscle , which forms its more fixed point , is called its origin ; while the other end which is fastened to the bone to be moved is termed its inse rtion : —moreover , that the shape ¦ to ™^ » ^^^ ™— m » " ^ ** ™ r - ^ ^^ r ^^ v ^ «• " *^ ™»^ ^^ f ** ^^ ^ ^ ~
a « a turn of the part depend chiefly upon the size and proportions of the Muscles which are situated thereon . « v J 8 ha P of the human body n different persons being extremely a « terent depends altogether upon the magnitude of the muscular parts . ™ nce also many of them taper into
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long slender tendons , where a decrease of size is necessary and beautiful , as at the small of the leg , while others swell out in symmetrical proportion . In describing the muscles of different parts of the body we shall be very brief , yet the description cannot consistently be wholly omitted , Dr . Keil has reckoned in the human body 446 muscles which may be dissected and
described by anatomists , and he himself hath assigned an use to every one of the number , Galen , who wrote long before Keil , says , there are tea things to be attended to in each particular muscle , viz . its figure—magnitude—fulcrum—point of actioncollocation with respect to its two
ends ?—the upper and lower surface— . the position of the whole muscle—and the introduction into it of nerves , arteries and veins . How are things , including so many adjustments as these several circumstances require , to be made $ or when made , hovr could they have been combined without intelligence ?
Muscles of the Head , The forehead is wrinkled and drawn upwards , and likewise the eye-brows , by a broad thin muscle which rises at the backpart of the skull , and covering the head , runs down the forehead to be inserted into the skin of the eye-brows . The eye-brows are drawn to each other and the skin of the forehead
pulled down and made to wrinkle , as in frowning , by a pair of small muscles , which rise from the root of the nose , and are inserted into the inside of the eye-brows . The ear is moved by eleven muscles , three move the whole : five give motion to particular parts , while the other three are internal to move
the small bones situated within the ear . The eyelids are closed by one muscle and opened by another . The eyeballs , that is the eyes themselves , arc carried through all their motions by six small muscles to each * They arise from the bottom of the socket
and are inserted into the outer coat of each eye-ball at different points . Four of these move the eye upwards and downwards , to the right and to the left , while the others give oblique directions to the eyes , at the same time protruding them : they all acffc in quick succession * and enable the
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 635, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/35/
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