•244 



THE CHEST. 



contrivances adopted to prevent injurious connection. There is no inflexible 

 bony union between the shoulders and the chest ; but while the spine is 

 formed to neutralise much of the concussion that might be received— while 

 the elastic connections between the vertebrsfi of the back, alternately 

 affording a yielding resistance to the shock, and regaining their natiiral 

 situation when the external force is removed, go far, by this plaj-ful motion, 

 to render harmless the rudest motion — there is a pi^ovision made by the 

 attachment of the shoulder-blade to the chest calculated to prevent the 

 possibility of any rude concussion reaching the thorax. ' Had,' says Mr. 



a The first rib. 



h The cartilagps of the ten hindprmost, ov false ribs, connected together, and uniting with 



that of the eighth or last true rib. 

 c The breast-bone. 

 d The top, or point, of the withers, which are formed by the lengthened spinous, or upright 



processes of the ten or eleven first bones of the back. The bones of the back are 



eighteen in number. 

 e The ribs, usually eighteen on each side ; the eight first united to the breast -bone by 



cartilage ; the cartilages of the remaining ten united to each other as at h 

 f Tliat portion of the spine where the loins commence, and composed of five bones. 

 (J The bones forming the hip, or haunch, and into the cavity at the bottom of which the 



head of the thigh-bone is received. 

 h The portion of the spine belonging to the haunch, and consisting of five pieces called 



the sacrum. 

 i The bones of the tail, usually thirteen in number. 



Percivall in the fifteenth volume of ' The Veterinarian,' ' the entire rib 

 been one solid piece of bone, a violent blow might have broken it to 

 pieces. On the other hand, had the ribs been composed from end to end 

 of cartilage only, the form of the arch could not have been sustained, but, 

 sooner or later it must have bent inward, and so have encroached upon 

 the cavity of the chest as to have compressed the oi^gans of respiration and 

 circulation to that degree that could not but have ended in suffocation and 

 death of the animal. It was only the judicious and well-arranged 

 combination of bone and gristle in the construction of the chest that could 

 answer the ends an all- wise Providence had in view.' 



At the shoulder is a muscle of immense strength, with tendinous 

 composition, the serratus magnus, spreading over one-third of the internal 

 surface of the shoulder-blade and extending to the four last cervical 

 vertebrae and a portion of the chest. A spring of easier play could not 

 have been attached to the carriage of any invalid. It is a carriage hung 

 by springs betweeii the scapulje, and a delightful one it is for easy 

 travelling ; while there is combined with it, and the union is not a little 

 difficult, strength enough to resist the jolting of the roughest road and the 

 most rapid pace. 



Laterally there is siifficient defence against all common injury by the 

 expansion of the shoulder over the chest from between the first and second 



