CHAPTEE II. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OP THE SKELETON ANATOMICAL LANDMARKS ABDOMINAL 



TRANSECTION. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SKELETON. 



204. The softer parts of the body are protected, supported, or 

 enabled to exert themselves to greater mechanical advantage by a 

 framework the skeleton. 



The skeleton consists of bones (Ossa), and cartilages (Cartila- 

 gines), which are more or less closely united at sutures (Suturce), or 

 movable upon each other at ArtTira (joints or articulations). At the 

 arthra and at some of the sutures the undesirable displacement of 

 the parts is checked by bands of inelastic fibrous tissue the liga- 

 ments (Ligamenta). 



Firmer in texture, more definite in outline, and more constant in 

 form, number and position than most of the soft parts, the bones 

 and cartilages serve as convenient guides to the identification and 

 description of the latter, and therefore naturally precede them as 

 subjects of anatomical study. 



The following general account of the skeleton as a whole is given 

 in advance of the detailed description of the individual bones in 

 order that the directions for certain preliminary operations may be 

 more easily understood and followed. 



205. Fig. 30. The skeleton seen from the left. 



This figure lias been reduced by photography from that of Straus-Durckheim (A, PI. 

 11), and has been further modified as follows : the dextral costae (ribs) have been omitted 

 for the sake of clearness ; the last costicartilage has been shortened so as to show its actual 

 condition ; the principal bones have been named, and the costes and vertebrae have been 

 numbered ; the shading is likewise altered somewhat. 



206. Like the body as a whole, the skeleton comprises a 

 somatic ("axial") portion including the bones of the head, neck, 

 thorax, abdomen, pelvis and tail, and a membral ("appendicular") 

 portion, including the bones of the arms and legs. 



