m 



ON T»E BONES, ETC. 



bones and shells of animals that lime is chiefly to be found ; and hence 

 those animals possess most of it in whom these organs are most abundant. 



Bone, shell, cartilage, and membrane, however, in their nascent state, 

 are all the same substance, and originate from a viscid fluid, usually sup- 

 posed to be the coagulable lymph, or more liquid part of the blood ; which, 

 secreted in one manner, constitutes jelly, or gelatine, a material character- 

 ized by its solubility iu warm v/ater, heated to about half the boiling point ; 

 and, secreted in another manner, forms albumen, or the material of the 

 white of the egg, characterized by its coagulating instead of dissolving in 

 about the same heat : the difference, however, between the two, consisting 

 merely, perhaps, in the diflerent proportion of oxygene they contain. 

 Membrane is gelatine, with a small proportion of albumen to give it a 

 certain degree of solidity ; cartilage is membrane, with a larger proportion 

 of albumen to give it a still greater degree of solidity ; and bone and shell 

 are mere cartilage, hardened by the insertion of bme into their interior, tbe 

 lime being secreted for this purpose by a particular set of vessels, and 

 absorbed by the bony or shelly rudiments in their soft state. And hence 

 any substances which, like the mineral acids for example, have a power of 

 dissolving the earthy matter of the two last, and of leaving the cartilage 

 untouched, may be readily employed as re-agents, to reduce them to their 

 primary softness : and it was by this means that Cleopatra, as we are told 

 by Pliny, dissolved one of the costly pair of pearls that formed her ear- 

 rings, each of which was valued at upwards of eighty thousand pounds 

 (^centies sestertium)^ at a feast given to Marc Antony, and then presented 

 it to him in a goblet, with an equal mixture of wine.* 



In the adult state, however, as well as in the embryo state, it is necessary 

 that the bones, like every other substance of the animal frame, should be 

 punctually supplied with the elementary matter, or the means of forming 

 the elementary matter, of which it essentially consists, the old matter of 

 every kind being worn out by use, and carried away by a distinct set of 

 vessels, called lymphatics or absorbents. It is the office of the digestive 

 organs to receive such supply from without, and to prepare it for the general 

 use. And hence, if we could conceive it possible for these organs, or 

 any organs dependent upon them, to be so pecuHarly diseased as to be in- 

 capable of preparing or conveying to the bones a sufficient - quantity of 

 lime, (of which some portion is contained in almost every kind of food,) 

 to supply the place of that which is perpetually passing off", the necessary 

 consequence would be, that the bones would progressively lose their hard- 

 ness, and become cartilaginous and pliable. Now we sometimes do meet 

 with the digestive or the secretory organs aflfected by such a kind of disease, 

 and that both in children and adults. In children it is more common, and 

 is called rickets ; in grown persons it is simply called a softimess of the 

 BONES, or MOLLiTiEs ossiusi. In the former case, the softened spine be- 

 comes bent from the weight of the bead, and other extremities, which it 

 is now no longer able of sustaining, while the chest and most of the limbs 

 partake of the general distortion. In the latter case many of the bones 

 are sometimes reduced to imperfect cartilages, and can be bent and unbent 

 in any direction » 



* This was on a trial who could give the most sumptuous banquet. Munacius Plancus was 

 the arbiter. The expense of Marc Antony's, already bestowed, bad been valued at just the 

 jpi'ice of this single pearl. Cleopatra was proceeding to dissolve its fellow, when she was sud- 

 denly stopped by the umpire, who declared the victory to be her'§. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 



