222 



THE SKELETON 



the living body which shows only faint outlines of the 

 soft parts and brings out clearly the bony framework of 

 these parts. With the aid of this apparatus, or by the 



Fig. f 



removal of the soft parts, a definite framework of bone, 

 cartilage, and gristle is revealed , to which the shape of the 

 human body is due, and which we call the human skeleton. 

 This skeleton is composed of over two hundred separate 

 bones, so joined as to fulfil the following distinct purposes: 

 (a) They give shape and rigidity to the body, (b) They 

 protect the delicate organs and soft parts of the body, 

 (c) They provide .levers on which the attached muscles 

 may act, and thus produce motion. The skeleton of man 

 and the higher animals is peculiar in the development of 

 a special chain of bones called the vertebrae, which are 

 so interlocked as to form a long flexible column, the spinal 

 column, and this column is the central portion of the 

 framework. All animals that possess such a structure are 

 called vertebrates. Man is the highest type of a vertebrate 

 animal. 



