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2 CULPEPER’s ENGLISH PHYSICIAN, 
O! Failevoll GabBb Ne aunrd adage al 
A LIGAMENT, or band, is a fimilar, fpermatic, dry, part, adhering firmly to 
the bones, tying the parts of the body mutually together. Its fubftance is ft 
white, bloodlefs, fofter than a griftle, and harder than nerves and membranes ; bein; . 
of a middle fubftance between them. It is without cavity, fenfe, or motion : their 
fubftance is in fome places fofter and more membranous than others, as in all liga. 
ments which go'about the joints. Their ufe is like a cord to connect or bind the 
parts of the body one to another, chiefly the bones, and to keep them fo together, 
that they may not be luxated or disjointed. As to fituation, fome are within. or 
among the bones, as the griftly ligaments, which are thick and round: fome are ex- 
‘ternally wound about the bones, which are thin and membranous. As to figure, 
fome are broad, which are called membranous ; others round and nervous : byt 
‘they are called membranous and nervous only in refpect to their external form or 
Tefemblance, not to their internal effence; for they are all void of fenfe, which they 
would not be were they compofed of the true fubftance of a nerve. or mem- 
brane. ‘All the ligaments are folid, none hollow, except the flender ligaments of 
the womb. ; Pstis hobiisi ads x ic ee 
OF A CARTILAGE, OR GRISTLE... — 
A GRISTLE isa fimilar, fpermatic, part, drier and harder than a ligament, but 
. 
_ moifter and fofter than a bone, rendering the articulation the more pliable, and de- 
_ tending feveral parts from external injuries, Some are fofter, efpecially about the 
joints; others harder, and not much differing from the nature of a bone; and fome 
are in procefs of time turned into bones, efpecially in aged people. Tt is without 
matrow, Cavities, or fenfe, being endowed neither with nerves nor membranes. Its 
_ Matter is the fame with that of the bones, being a moift earthy part of the feed, 
‘partly clammy and gluey, and partly fat, but more vifcous than fat: its ule is t0 
facilitate motion, that the bones rubbing one againit another fhould not wear and 
~ Frets to defend fome parts from external injuries, itfelf being fcarcely fubjecttoany 
to fhape parts prominent or hollow, as in the ears, Jarynx, &c.to fill up hollownels 
‘um the joints, as inthe knees; to ferve for a cover, as. in the epiglottis , to fuftain a 
“ounderprop fomewhat, as the griftles of the eye-lids to bear the haits, and-to make 4 
“a Conneétion or joining of the bones. Its fituation, magnitude, and figure, are Vatl- 
-“Ous,“according to the bones they are joined with’: their fubstance is fometimes 
» ‘harder, as thofe which in time boney: fometimes fofter, refembling Bh 
pera ris : : men 
