MUSCLES 287 



ports when standing are the common habits responsible for 

 many crooked, wrongly developed figures; Figs. 143 and 144. 

 All powers that are not used are soon lost, and a perfect body 

 requires the harmonious development of all its muscles, without 

 the excessive development of any at the expense of others. 



DISEASES OF MUSCLES AND BONES 



The tuberculosis bacillus sometimes attacks the bones, 

 especially at the joints, producing serious conditions such as 

 hip-disease. Frequently a trouble called rheumatism appears 

 around the joints and interferes with their ready action. 

 It is frequently an ailment of persons beyond middle age, 

 though it is not uncommonly found among young people. 

 Its cause is not yet known nor any method of preventing it ; 

 except to avoid too rich a proteid diet. 



Tetanus, commonly called lock-jaw, is an extremely serious 

 disease, which is characterized by a peculiar state of the muscles. 

 It is caused by a well known bacterium which 

 lives in the soil; Fig. 145. If a person receives 

 an injury from an instrument that has. been 

 lying on the ground, a rusty nail, for example, 

 some of these tetanus bacilli may enter through FIG. 145. 

 the wound. Many cases of this disease have TETANUS 

 followed wounds from toy pistols and other fire- 

 works on the Fourth of July. If these bacilli th*at pro- 

 get into the body, they grow and multiply, ^ uce lock - 

 producing one of the most deadly poisons J 

 known, which is absorbed by the blood and carried over 

 the body. The most noticeable symptom is that the 

 jaw muscles contract so tightly that the mouth can- 

 not be opened, hence the name lock-jaw. The muscles 

 in the rest of the body soon undergo a similar con- 

 traction. The disease is extremely painful, and prac- 

 tically always fatal. No sure remedy for tetanus is known, 

 though an antitoxin somewhat like that used for diphtheria 



