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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



urally and functionally " that they can seize and let go the fulcra on 

 which they act ; particularly is this the case in the water and in the 

 air, the form and movement being such that the greatest results are 

 secured with the least expenditure of force. The muscles cover the 

 bones, in layers or strata, and run longitudinally with them, and with 

 each other, but also at every degree of obliquity. The spiral struct- 

 ure and movement of bones of animals have been carefully analyzed 

 by Dr. Pettigrew, and some of his conclusions are illustrated in Fig. 4. 



Fig. \. 



Wing of Bird.— Shows how the bones of the arm (a), forearm (J), and hand (c), are twisted, 



and form a conical screw. 



Anterior Extremity of Elephant. — Shows how the bones of the arm (q), forearm (q'x), and 

 (o), are twisted to form an osseons screw. Cast or mould of the interior of the left ventricle of 

 the heart of a deer. Shows that the left ventricular cavity is conical and spiral in its nature. 



The voluntary muscles of the wing, he finds, are upon the same 

 pattern as are those of the involuntary muscles of the heart. He 

 compared the bones removed from the forelimb of a quadruped or 

 bird, with a cast obtained from the cavity of a hollow muscle, the 

 left ventricle of the heart of a mammal, and found that the bones 

 and the cast are twisted upon themselves, and form elegant screws, 

 the threads of which run in the same direction. 



Fig. 5. 



Diagram, showing the figure-of-8 or double-waved track produced by the alternating of the extrem- 

 ities in man in walking and running. 



The movement of the limbs of a quadruped is in curves, which, 

 continued, form a figure-of-8, or a series of them ; a fact in progression 

 first pointed out by Dr. Pettigrew. Quadrupeds, says the author, 

 walk ; fishes swim ; insects, bats, and birds, fly by figure-of-8 move- 



