OF MUSCULARITY AND ELASTICITY 77 



oblique that it must raise the hand and forearm 

 with disadvantage. But, correctly speaking, the 

 power of the muscle is not sacrificed, since it 

 gains more than an equivalent in the rapid and 

 lively motions of the hand and fingers, and since 

 these rapid motions are necessary to us in a thou- 

 sand familiar actions ; and to attain this, the Cre- 

 ator has given sufficient vital power to the mus- 

 cles to admit of the sacrifice of the mechanical 

 or lever power, and so to provide for every degree 

 and variety of motion which may answer to the 

 capacities of the mind. 



If we represent the bones and muscles of the 

 forearm by this diagram, we shall see that power 



FIG. 20. 



is lost by the inclination of the tendon to the 

 lever, into which it is inserted. It represents the 

 lever of the third kind, where the moving power 

 operates on a point nearer the fulcrum than the 

 weight to be moved. 



