50 OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



we feel the motion of cords just beneath the skin. These 

 are the tendons, or sinews; forming the tapering ends of 

 muscles, which are fastened to the bones. 



Tendons are white, glistening cords, or straps, which con- 

 nect the muscles with the bones. They are very strong 

 but flexible. Children often amuse themselves by getting 

 at the market the leg of a fowl or a rabbit, 

 and moving the toes by pulling a white 

 cord in the leg. This cord is a tendon. 



Experiment 17. Tendons may be admirably 

 shown in the leg of a fowl or turkey. Obtain the 

 hoof of a calf or sheep with one end of the ten- 

 don of Achilles still attached. Test its strength. 



Experiment 18. With the thumb and fore- 

 finger of the right hand, grasp firmly the inside 

 bend of the left elbow. Bend and extend the 

 left forearm vigorously. The action of the biceps 

 tendon may be readily studied. 



74. How the Muscles are named. Each 



muscle has its own name given to it from 

 FIG. 39. The Ten- j ts peculiar shape, size, or from the special 



don of Achilles. , ., , , , T r ,, 



work it has to do. Most of these names 

 are Latin words, and are 'often hard to remember. Thus, 

 some of the muscles which help bend the fingers and the 

 toes are called flexors, while those which straighten them 

 are known as extensors. 



Some muscles have several points of insertion, for ex- 

 ample, the two-headed muscle (biceps) and the three-headed 

 (triceps). Other muscles are named from some resemblance 

 to figures in geometry, as the trapezius and rhomboid, or from 

 the direction of their fibers, as rectus and oblique. Again, 

 we have in the lower limb the tailor's muscle (sartorius), 

 and the sole muscle (soleus, the sole, a fish). 



