456 NATURAL EXPEDIENTS FOR SUPPLYING 
within a common fire-grate, pressed the poker between 
his stumps at about a middle distance from the extremity 
of it ; he next pressed the head of this iever under his chin, 
with the view ( )f finding for it a fulcrum. Assisted by this 
expedient, he easily insinuated the point of the poker be- 
tween the barSj and, while the defective limbs acted as the 
moving power, the office was performed with as much agi- 
lity as it would have been by any individual possessed of 
both his hands. 
On a similar principle may be explained the mode in 
which Mark Yarwood contrives to feed himself. The 
handle of the spoon with which he eats, being passed a 
little way between the coat-sleeve and the arm, is pressed 
downwards by the application of the left stump ; at the 
same time, the extremity of the handle meets with some re- 
sistance in the hollow caused by the short-bending process 
that terminates the ossa humeri, by which means the im- 
plement is steadied in its position ; it is then plunged into 
the trencher, and, when filled, is instantly elevated, for the 
purpose of meeting the lips. Occasionally, however, the 
boy varies his mode of using the spoon ; the stumps se- 
cure it by the middle of the handle, while the extremity of 
the haft is steadied by being pressed against the lower edge 
of the malar or cheek bone. 
But besides calling in the services of the organs connected 
with the mouth, together with the chin, and even cheek- 
bone, to aid the stumps, it is easy to conceive that, in so 
general a requisition, the knees would not be forgotten. Ac- 
cordingly, these last mentioned organs are very frequently 
employed to close upon such substances as are of larger 
bulk than the teeth can secure, or, in reference to their low 
situation, to otherwise aid the objects which may happen 
to engage the labour of the stumps. When, likewise, it is 
co^lsideredJ that the ossa humeri, though fully extended, 
