OUTLINES 



OF 



COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 



CHAPTER FIRST. 



ORGANS OF SUPPORT, OR OSSEOUS SYSTEM. 



FIRST SECTION. 



General Observations on the Osseous System of Animals. 



As animals are organized to select and obtain foreign 

 matter for their subsistence, and to convey it into their 

 digestive organs, to be transported with them from place 

 to place, they- generally require some solid means of support 

 for the attachment of their active organs of motion. These 

 denser parts of the body serve as a solid frame-work to give 

 form and solidity to the whole fabric, and to protect the more 

 delicate organs. They consist for the most part of earthy 

 materials separated from the food by the vital processes of 

 the animal, and may be placed on the exterior or in the in- 

 terior of the soft parts. These inert materials, or passive 

 organs of locomotion receive their forms from those of the 

 soft parts, and are liable to change with the varying condi- 

 tions of the contiguous living parts. When placed on the 

 exterior of the body, they may, without being organized, 



PART 1. B 



