COVERING OF THE HOUSE. 123 



joy and surprise of everybody, the ropes shrunk 

 just enough to raise the obelisk to its place, 

 where it has now stood nearly 250 years and 

 where it may perhaps continue to stand many 

 thousand years, unless an earthquake should 

 shake it down. 



You will probably begin to wonder what this 

 story has to do with anatomy and physiology. 

 I will tell you. The muscles are the parts by 

 means of which we move our heads, our 

 arms, our legs, &c. In fact, we could not so 

 much as move a ringer, or any part of oiir 

 bodies, without them. 



But they move these parts by contracting 

 or shrinking. Being fastened to the bones at 

 each end, they must, you know, if they- shrink, 

 draw one of the bones to which they are 

 strongly fastened towards the other. If the 

 muscles between the shoulder and elbow shrink, 

 they must either draw the shoulder towards 

 the elbow, or the arm below the elbow towards 

 the shoulder. You can judge for yourselves 

 which would be most likely to happen. II, 



The muscles will not contract or shrink a 

 great deal, it is true ; but they will do so much 



