•'•'Sea. VII. 
Burs^ MucoSiE oi'' THE Human Body. 
33 
poilicis longus (/) ; of which a dozen are reprefented in Tah. IX. (m). The 
diftention of the burfa by thefe cartilaginous bodies gave fuch intolerable pain 
to the patient, that I propofed to Mr Gibfon furgeon in Edinburgh, to punc- 
ture the burfa, and to prefs them out at the orifice ; which was accordingly 
done by him. 
The cartilaginous bodies exprefifed from the burfa, riot only refembled 
thofe taken from the joints in their confiftence, but in their internal ftrudure ; 
both, when cut, feeming to be compofed of lamellae. 
The manner in which fuch bodies form within the joints has not been fa- 
tisfadorily explained by authors. Some have fuppofed that they were por- 
tions of the articulating cartilages beaten olF by accident from the bones («) ; 
But from the appearance of the cartilaginous bodies extrafled from the burfa, 
one half of which had evidently fmall ftalks or peduncles (<?), and that fome 
force was necefifary 'to make them move to the place pundured, and that in 
two cafes I have feen of cartilaginous bodies within the knee, in one of which 
an incifion was made, thefe bodies were firmly fixed in their place ; I appre- 
hend that all grow from or are nourilhed by peduncles : and it feems to me 
not only highly improbable that they can grow when the peduncle is broken 
by accident, but in one cafe in which fuch a cartilaginous body was very 
moveable, I could not, after two years had elapfed, obferve any difference ei- 
ther in its fize or mobility. 
13. I WOULD, in the laft place, obferve, that the burfae and ligaments cor- 
refpond remarkably in having little fenfibility in a found ftate of the body, 
and in acquiring a great degree of fenfibility by inflammation (/>)* 
• • 
I ' That 
(/) See Tab. I. 1 . 
(m) See Tab. IX. from fig. 7. to fig. 1 8. 
(«) Med. Eff. of Edin. Vol. IV. Art. XIX. — ^Reimariis de Furgo Articul. p. 32. 
(0) See Tab. iX. fig. 7. 8. 9. 13. 
(p) The nerves of the ligaments of moll joints are fo minute that they cannot be traced by dif- 
fedtion ; 
