MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 229 



Q. How does age affect muscular contractility of tex- 

 ture? 



*#. It diminishes it remarkably. 



Q. Is the muscular fibre globular, hollow, or solid? 



#. Meckel and Home consider it globular; some ana- 

 tomists suppose it to be an assemblage of vessels of a par- 

 ticular order; others say it is solid and not penetrated by 

 fluids. 



II. OF THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM OP ORGANIC LIFE. 



Q. Where do you find the muscles of this tissue? 



A. In the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis; and the heart 

 and oesophagus, the stomach and intestines, the bladder 

 and uterus, compose it 



Forms and Organization of the Muscular System of 

 Organic Life. 



Q. What are the forms of these muscles? 



. They form hollow muscular cavities; they are with- 

 out tendons; they do notarise from fibrous membranes, 

 nor are they inserted into them ; they proceed from, and 

 terminate in cellular substance; they have a thin, flat, 

 membranous form. 



Q. What is the direction of the fibres? 



/?. It is not single as in the muscles of animal life, but ' 

 they interlace in every direction. 



Q. What advantage is this interlacing of fibres ? 



*1. It favours the diminution of the diameters of the 

 cavities formed by these muscles. 



