260 SKELETON. 



them. They are furnished but sparingly with blood vessels, 

 which for the most part, are capillary. The periosteum and 

 the dura mater are, however, exceptions to this rule. Lym- 

 phatic vessels have been observed in some of them, but it is 

 doubtful whether they generally have nerves.* 



The sensibility of this system is extremely obscure, and is not 

 manifested under the usual mechanical and chemical irritants; 

 it may, however, be elicited by communicating to the joints a 

 twisting motion, as the experiments of Bichat prove. Inflam- 

 mation augments their sensibility, in which case it becomes ex- 

 tremely acute, as in gout and rheumatism, or any other cause 

 productive of it. 



SECT. II. OF THE LIGAMENTS OF THE JOINTS. 



The ligaments, (ligamenta,) properly speaking, are those or- 

 gans which tie the bones together, and in the moveable joints 

 are either capsular (capsules jibreux) or funicular, (ligamens 

 jibreux fasciculaires.) The first are like a bag open at the 

 ends, at either of which the articular extremity of a bone is in- 

 cluded. These are much more complete in some joints than in 

 others; the shoulder and the hip joints afford the most perfect 

 examples; in other joints they are divided into irregular fasci- 

 culi of fibres, permitting the synovial membrane to appear in 

 their interstices, and sometimes they are still more widely se- 

 parated. 



The funicular ligaments are mere cords, extending from one 

 bone to another; some of them are flattened, some rounded, and 

 others oval or cylindroid. They are variously placed ; in some 

 instances they are within the capsular ligament, and in others, 

 on its outer surface, and sometimes so blended with it as not to 

 be separated without an artificial dissection. Their names are 

 derived either from their position or shape, and are generally 

 sufficiently appropriate. 



* Beclard, Anat. Gen. 



