BONES AND JOINTS OF THE EXTREMITIES 43 



upon the bone, and the nature and the common 

 place of fracture : while, to the general inquirer, 

 an agreeable process of reasoning is introduced 

 in that department, which is altogether without 

 interest when the " irregularities ' of the bone 

 are spoken of, as if they were the accidental con- 

 sequences of the pressure of the flesh upon it. 



Although treating of the purely mechanical prin- 

 ciple, it is, perhaps, not far removed from our 

 proper object to remark, that a person of feeble 

 texture and indolent habits has the bone smooth, 

 thin, and light; but that Nature, solicitous for 

 our safety, in a manner which we could not anti- 

 cipate, combines with the powerful muscular frame 

 a dense and perfect texture of bone, where every 

 spine and tubercle is completely developed. And 

 thus the inert and mechanical provisions of the 

 bone always bear relation to the muscular power 

 of the limb, and exercise is as necessarv to the 



' / 



perfect constitution of a bone as it is to the per- 

 fection of the muscular power. Jockeys speak 

 correctly enough, when they use the term " blood 

 and bone 9 ' as distinguishing the breed or gene- 

 alogy of horses ; for blood is an allowable term 

 for the race, and bone is so far significant, that 

 the bone of a running horse is remarkably com- 

 pact compared with the bone of a draught horse. 

 The reader can easily understand, that the span 

 in the gallop must give a shock in proportion 



