AND FAMILY DISPENSATORY. a 
is thin, and is knit unto the mufcles by moft thin filaments. Its ufe is to clothe the 
mufcles, and to feparate them one from another; and to impart to them fenfe and 
feeling.. The thick membrane is called by fome a membranous mufcle, by others 
a nervy or fatty coat; it is called flethy, becaufe in fome places, as about the loins, 
neck, ears, forehead, &c. it retains a flefhy fubftance ; but, inthe abdomen of a man 
ripe in years, it has no flefhy appearance at all. Its temperature is hot and moitt, 
having its origin from blood: it is fituated under the fat, and ftretched out over 
the whole body univerfally, and is the fourth covering of the body, (but in beafts it 
is next to the fkin:) it has no figure, but that of the body which it covers : its co- 
lour is various in divers places : in the neck, forehead, and privities, it is redder thiaa 
_ elfewhere: in fome places it is joined to the fat infeparably, in other places it may 
be feparated ; and it communicates with the principal parts by the extremities of the 
veins, arteries, and nerves. It is very fenfible, fo that the rigour and trembling of 
the body depends thereupon : its ufe is to give foundation to the collecting and ge- 
nerating the fat, and to keep the fat in its due place, as alfo to divide one mufcle 
from another, and all of them from the other flefh ; to clothe the body, cherifh the 
internal heat, and to defend it from external injuries : it fticks clofe to the fat, to the 
mufcles, and to the ligaments of the bones, and is firmly joined to the back in fa- 
fhion of a membrane, from whence it is faid to arife ; it is fo clofely joined to the 
mufculus latus, that in the neck and forehead it can fcarcely be feparated from it, 
whereby it is thought to conftitute the fame: to the fkin it fticks by very many 
veins, fome few arteries, branches of nerves, and an innumerable quantity of 
membranous fibres. 
OF A FIBRE 
a FIBRE i is a fimilar fpermatic part, difperfed through the skin, ‘fleth, and mem- 
branes, to make them the more firm, and, being naturally diftended, to contra& 
again in the fame manner, By reafon of the various fituation thereof, it is faid to 
be either din ae oblique, tranfverfe, or round, whereby it may not only help the 
, but ftrengthen it, as alfo the skin and flefh or mufcles ; and, when dilat- 
ed, reduce them to their natural ftate. Each fort of fibre i is faid to perform a feve- 
Tal action : as, the right to attract or draw 1 to; the oblique to expel or thruft forth ; : 
the tranfverfe to retain or hold; and the ‘round to conftrain or bind. But thefe 
_aétions s of the fibres are not made fo much by their own fingular virtue as nae 
