CHAP. VI.] THE HAND. 149 



pass through a considerable space during the rotation of the fore- 

 arm. 



The contrast between the solidity and elastic firmness of the foot 

 and the lightness, flexibility, and mobility of the hand, is most 

 striking. The analogy between the anatomical elements of both 

 organs is complete : but they are modified to suit the office for 

 which each is destined; the foot as a basis of support, the hand as 

 a prehensible organ. The hand is modified remarkably from the 

 form of the foot by the divergence of the outer metacarpal bone, 

 to form the thumb : this bone, at its articulation with the carpus, 

 enjoys a considerable degree of mobility, in virtue of which exists 

 the opposable faculty of the thumb ; a power which, in a state of 

 perfection, is peculiar to the human hand. 



While the hand is so remarkably mobile, it is well protected 

 against the effects of compression, or concussion, by the number 

 of its joints, and the interposed cartilages and fibro- cartilages, 

 and the soft covering of fat which lies beneath the skin of the 

 palm ; and its strength is abundantly provided for in the strong 

 ligaments which connect the bones to each other, and the fibrous 

 expansions which cover them. 



One of the most wonderful circumstances in the construction 

 of the hand, is its adaptability to an infinite number of offices. 

 A powerful organ of prehension, it is yet capable of adjusting 

 the finest pieces of mechanism, or of exposing to view the minutest 

 wonders of nature : an admirable and most delicate instrument of 

 touch, it may nevertheless be employed as a fearful and deadly 

 weapon of offence : at one time it may be used to lift great 

 weights, to pull at the cable, or to turn the windlass; and, again, 

 it will execute the most varied and rapid movements, in the per- 

 formance of works or artifices which human talent has invented. 



The hand is the obedient minister of man's volition and of his 

 genius, and, too often, the blind slave of his emotions and his 

 passions. 



The following references are subjoined: The various treatises on General 

 Anatomy ; the article Articulation, in the Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Phy- 

 siology ; Mayo's Physiology, chap. xi. ; Bell's Animal Mechanics ; Arnott's 

 Elements of Physics, vol. i. p. 218 ; Anatomic Descriptive, par Bichat, t i. ; 

 Outlines of Human Osteology, by F. 0. Ward, a work to be strongly recom- 

 mended, as well for its exact and clear descriptions, as for the excellent and 

 original views on the mechanism of the skeleton, with which it abounds. 

 AVo shall be glad to see it published in a form more suitable to its great 

 merit. 



