168 STRUCTURE OF MUSCLE. 



The anterior or plantar ligaments are thick and fibre-cartilaginous, and 

 form part of the articulating surface of the joint. 



The lateral ligaments are short and very strong, and situated on each 

 side of the joints. 



The transverse ligaments are strong bands, which pass transversely be- 

 tween the anterior ligaments. 



The expansion of the extensor tendon supplies the place 'of a dorsd 

 ligament. 



Actions. The movements of the first phalanges upon the rounded 

 heads of the metatarsal bones, are flexion, extension, adduction and abduc- 

 tion. 



8. Articulation of the Phalanges. The ligaments of the phalanges are 

 the same as those of the fingers, and have the same disposition ; their 

 actions are also similar. They are, 



Anterior or plantar, Two lateral. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE MUSCLES. 



MUSCLES are the moving organs of the animal frame ; they constitute 

 by their size and number the great bulk of the body, upon which they 

 bestow form and symmetry. In the limbs they are situated around the 

 bones, which they invest and defend, while they form to some of the joints 

 a principal protection. In the trunk they are spread out to enclose cavi- 

 ties, and constitute a defensive wall capable of yielding to internal pressure, 

 and again returning to its original position. 



Their colour presents the deep red which is characteristic of flesh, and 

 their form is variously modified, to execute the varied range of movements 

 which they are required to effect. 



Muscle is composed of a number of parallel fibres placed side by side, 

 and supported and held together by a delicate web of areolar tissue ; so 



the 



that, if it were possible to remove the muscular substance, we should have 

 remaining a beautiful reticular framework, possessing the exact form and 

 size of the muscle without its colour and solidity. Towards the extremity 

 of the organ the muscular fibre ceases, and the areolar structure becomes 

 aggregated and modified, so as to constitute those glistening fibres and 

 cords by which the muscle is tied to the surface of bone, and which are 

 called tendons. Almost every muscle in the body is connected with bone, 

 either by tendinous fibres, or by an aggregation of those fibres constituting 

 a tendon ; and the union is so firm, that, under extreme violence, the 

 bone itself rather breaks than permits of the separation of the tendon from 

 its attachment. In the broad muscles the tendon is spread so as to form 

 an expansion, called aponeurosis (diro, longe ; veupov,* nervus a nerve 

 widely spread out). 



Muscles present various modifications in the arrangement of their fibres 

 in relation to their tendinous structure. Sometimes they are completely 



* The ancient? named all the white fibres of the body vcvpa the term has since been 

 limited to the i arves. 



