63 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUDIES 



the corresponding displacements of the partition. We notice, 

 then, that there is a practical limit of yielding, that an increase 

 of pressure beyond a certain point is practically ineffective, does 

 not cause any further displacement to speak of. 



There can be no doubt that the assumption of a relation 

 existing between the displacement of the partition and the 

 pressure, similar to the relation between an angle and its 

 tangent — however rough the approximation to the facts — is 



p ressu re 



Fig. 27. The probable relation between pressure and displacement of the partition 



much better adapted to the anatomical facts than the second 

 provisional assumption. Of course, the second provisional as- 

 sumption simplifies greatly the graphic representation of the 

 successive positions of the partition, but at the cost of all 

 accuracy. Wherever the approximation thus possible is suffi- 

 cient for our purposes, we shall, of course, continue to work 

 under that simpler assumption. But let us now apply the 

 latter assumption to our problem of representing the succes- 

 sive positions of the partition which correspond to the stirrup 



