- 



FIIWOKEUK1TK. 



HOUR 



or ether. When long boiled in water it shrink*, hardens, and yields 



portion of gelatine, derived from the interstitial cellular membrane ; 

 the fibriu iteelf U also modified by the continued action of boiling 

 water, and low* its solubility in acetic acid, which when digested with 

 it iu iU previous state form* a gelatinous mass, soluble in water, but 

 slightly turbid from the presence of fat and a portion of insoluble 

 membrane, derived apparently from the vessels which pervaded the 

 original muscle. It is soluble in diluted caustic potass, and precipi- 

 tated by an excess of muriatic acid, the precipitate being a compound 

 of fibrin with excess of muriatic acid, and which when washed with 

 distilled water become gelatinous and soluble, being reduced to the 

 state of a neutral muriate of fibrin. 



" When the fibrin of muscle is mixed with its weight of sulphuric 

 acid it swells and dissolves, and when gently heated a little fat rises 

 to the surface, and may be separated : if the mass U then diluted with 

 twice its weight of water, and boiled for nine hours (occasionally 

 replacing the loss by evaporation), ammonia is formed, which 

 combines with the acid; and on saturating it with carbonate of 

 lime, filtering, and evaporating to dryness, a yellow residue remains, 

 consisting of three distinct products : two of these are taken up by 

 digestion in boiling alcohol of the specific gravity of '845, and are 

 obtained upon evaporation ; this residue, treated with alcohol of the 

 s|>ecific gravity of '830, communicates to it (1) a portion of a peculiar 

 extractive matter, and the insoluble remainder (2) is white, soluble in 

 water, and crystallisable, and has been called by Braconnot leucinc. 

 It fuses at 212, exhaling the odour of roasted meat, and partly 

 sublimes : it is difficultly soluble iu alcohol. It dissolves in nitric 

 acid, and yields on evaporation a white crystalline compound, the 

 nitro-leucic acid. The portion of the original residue, which is 

 insoluble in alcohol (3), U yellow, and its aqueous solution is precipi- 

 tated by infusion of galls, subacetate of lead, nitrate of mercury, and 

 persulphate of iron. It appears therefore that the products of the 

 action of sulphuric acid upon the fibrin of muscle are, 1, an extractive 

 matter soluble in alcohol ; 2, leucine ; and 3, extractive, insoluble in 

 alcohol, but soluble in water." (Brande.) 



FIBROFEUKITE, a Mineral consisting of Sulphate of Iron. [IRON.] 

 FIBROLITE, a name for Bucholzite. [BUCROLZITE.] 

 FIBKOUS TISSUE. The tissue specially called fibrous consists of 

 the membrane that covers the bones and cartilages (the periosteum and 

 perichondrium) ; the membrane that is spread over or that forms a 

 part of certain muscles, constituting the muscular aponeuroses or 

 fascia; ; the membrane that forms the sheaths in which tendons are 

 included ; the outer membrane that envelopes the brain and spinal 

 chord (the dura mater and its continuation down the spinal canal) ; 

 the firm membrane in which the more delicate muscles and the 

 humours of the eye are contained (the tunica sclerotica) ; the outer 

 membrane forming the bag that contains the heart (the pericardium) ; 

 the membranes by which the bones in general are tied together and 

 the joints in particular are secured, called ligaments; and the firm 

 cords in which many muscles terminate and which form their moveable 

 extremities, termed tendons. Though these substances are exten- 

 sively diffused through the body, and are apparently independent of 

 each other, yet they are closely connected together, and form a peculiar 

 system. The firm and resisting threads which constitute the basis of 

 these different organs are composed of condensed cellular tissue. 

 The peculiar animal substance of which they consist is coagulated 

 albumen and gelatine, intermixed with a small quantity of mucous 



.V.' 1 ..'. ::. ' ';-. 



All the proper fibrous organs possess, in the language of anatomists, 



low organisation ; that is, they receive but a comparatively small 

 quantity of blood, and their blood-vessels are so minute in size, that 

 they ars generally incapable of admitting the red particles of the 

 blood. They receive few nerves, and these are so small that some 

 anatomists have doubted whether they are supplied with any nerves 

 at all ; but their sensibility in certain states of disease proves that they 

 are not absolutely destitute of sentient nerves. In like manner, few 

 absorbents can be traced to them ; yet the ravages of disease in the 

 neighbourhood of joints, the sloughing of tendons, and the destruction 

 of the periosteum by the pressure of aneurism, abundantly testify that 

 they are supplied with absorbent vessels. But the office of all the 

 fibrous organs is mechanical ; they are adapted either to contain, 

 support, and defend more delicate organs, or they constitute strong 

 and unyielding buds which tie joints firmly together. A high degree 

 of organisation, gnat vaacularity, great sensibility, would have 

 disqualified them for their office. What they principally need U a 

 power of cohesion sufficient to enable them to resist rupture, and to 

 sustain the opposing shocks to which the joints are exposed iu 

 the violent movements of the body ; the las wnsibility they have 

 the hotter, and accordingly they are so organised that while their 

 physical properties render them by far the strongest parts of the 

 animal frame, they are endowed only with just a sufficient degree 

 of vitality to constitute them integrant parts of the living system. 

 [ARKOI.AH TISSUE.] 



KIT.ri.A. The Fibula (|M'T.H. : . IV, iipArn, a l>odkin) is a long 

 lender bone swelling out at both ends, by which it U firmly attached 

 to the outer tide of the tibia, or main bone of tho li-g. The lower 

 extremity form* the projection of the outer, ancle : it U receive'! int< 

 a deep longitudinal groove at the side of the tibia, to which it is con 



uectod by a ligamentous union; and is firmly knit t.> tl,,- loot by 

 strong bauds of ligament, which spread like the sticks of u fan lrm 

 the tip of the ancle to the bones of the heel and instep. The upper 

 extremity slants a little backwards, and is articulated with th> 

 of the tibia below the knee, by means of a true joint, having cartila- 

 ginous surfaces and a syuovial membrane as well as external ligaments. 

 The tendon of the biceps flexor cruris, or muscle of tho outer ham- 

 string, is implanted into this port of the fibula, which is called its head, 

 and spreads over the adjoining bony and muscular surfaces, connecting 

 and supporting them in the double capacity of a ligament :i 

 aponourosis. There is no greater degree of motion between 1 1 

 and fibula than is sufficient to give somabeUsticity to tho play < 

 ancle-joint, which is secured on the outer side chiefly l>y the projection 

 of the fibula beyond it. The shaft of the fibula nearly straight, 

 triangular, hard, a little twisted, and of great strength for its sice 

 is about as thick as the middle finger, and extends like a bowstring 

 across the arch formed by the gradual enlargement of the tibia towards 

 the knee. A strong sheet of fibrous membrane, called tho interosseous 

 ligament, tightly stretched from one bone to the other, fills up the 

 greater part of the interval between them, and gives surface for the 

 attachment of muscles and strength to the limb, without adding 

 inconveniently to its bulk or weight. Nine muscles are attached to the 

 fibula. The biceps cruris, already mentioned, bends the leg back 

 towards the thigh ; three on the fore part raise and extend the toes, 

 the remaining five unite iu raising the heel, and press the toes and the 

 ball of the foot against the ground ; at tho same time turning the sole 

 outwards by lifting its external border. The muscles chiefly con- 

 cerned in the last-mentioned action are the peroueus longus and 

 brevis ; their tendons pass behind the ancle, lying in a groove of the 

 fibula, which acts as a fixed pully to change the line of their traction, 

 and are inserted into two bones on the outer and inner edge of the 

 sole near the base of the toes. They are very powerful muscles; and 

 when they act with sudden and spasmodic force, in consequence of 

 the foot coming unexpectedly to the ground, are capable of breaking 

 the fibula above the ancle by pressing the foot against ita projecting 

 end. This accident happens not unfrequently from the foot slipping 

 unawares over the edge of the curb-stone, and is complicated with 

 various degrees of lateral dislocation, and with severe sprain of the 

 ligament* of the inner ancle. The force may be sufficient to break off 

 the tip of the inner ancle ; and if the sharp edge of the broken tibia 

 be driven through the skin, which sometimes happens, the cavity of 

 the joint is exposed, and the injury becomes a compound dislocation 

 of the ancle-joint. These accidents are sometimes secondary, the foot 

 being in the first instance forced by the weight against the inner ancle, 

 with sprain of the external ligaments, and then drawn up with a jerk 

 by the peronei. However produced, the injury is a very serious one, 

 and often requires much good management to prevent permanent 

 lameness or even worse consequences. Minor degrees of it have a 

 general resemblance to simple sprains of the tuuaentt, and the 

 fracture of the fibula may be overlooked. It may however be easily 

 detected, notwithstanding the swelling, by the unusual position of the 

 foot, and by pressing the bones together higher up the leg ; for if tho 

 fibula be fractured, this cannot be done without a sense of yielding of 

 the otherwise solidly compacted ports, and increase of paiu to tho 

 patient from the pressure of the broken end of the bone against tho 

 eoft parts. From the name of the eminent surgeon who first deline- 

 ated and described this injury, it is called ' Pott's Fracture.' [Foot; 

 TIBIA.] 



FIHULARIA. [KciiiMD.E.1 



FICAUIA, tho genus to which Ranuncultu FiviriH, the Pilewort, 

 has been referred. [RANUNCULUS.] 



FICEUULA. [BECCAFICO; SYLVIAD-B.] 



FICHTELITE, a form of Fossil Kesin found in coal. 



FICOIDE/E. [MKSEMBBYACE*.] 



FICUS, a large genus of Plants belonging to tho natural or.l. r 

 Urlicacea!, having the flowers, both males and females, mixed indis- 

 criminately on the inside of a flashy receptacle, which is so concave 

 that its edges are drawn together into a narrow opening. This U 

 illustrated by the common eatable Fig, the receptacle of Fictu Carim, 

 which, although resembling a fruit as simple as a gou in fact 



a collection of a large number of minute unisexual (lowers growing to 

 a succulent base ; at its apex will be found the narrow opening where 

 the edges of the receptacle are drawn together, and when its ind-i r r 

 is laid bare the flowers are seen closely packed all over its surface, 

 .iivi.l. <1 from each other by soft colourless bristle-like bract* or scales. 

 What are called the seeds in tho ripe fig are the ; < h !' 



which contains a single seed. The calyx ia variable in the nun. 

 its segments, sometimes having only 3, sometimes 7 or 8. Tho stamens 

 are solitary in many species, 3 in others, and 5 in some. The piatil 

 comiiats of a single ovary terminated by an awl-shaped stylo, Muling 

 in a 2-lobod stigma. 



The number of species of Ficu is very considerable, perhaps as 

 great as that of any arborescent genus. They arc all either ti 

 or inhabitants of warm countries. Some are small plants creeping 

 upon the surface of rocks and walls, or clinging to tho trunks of trees 

 like ivy; others arc among the largest trees of the forest. AH travellers 

 in the 'voods of South America speak of tho nnblo aspect of tho fig- 

 tree* (meaning species of 1'icn* not of the cultivated surt), of their 



