The Brain And Its Bony Citadel.- the arches, with true anatomical instinct in a rare technical ability in regard to accuracy in minute detail, has performed as part of the work in this illustration with such faithful fidelity to nature that one cannot withhold a word of praise at the grand style and elaborate manner of its execution. This elegant and artistic anatomical plate represents the brain held firmly in position within its strong bony citadel, but collect and 20 from above downward, thus showing its internal mechanism and construction; besides which it gives the internal arrangements of the nose, tongue, throat and neck.This initial section, or rather the first paragraph of the of this section provides more praise to the artist and description of the actual topic, which in case you missed it is a picture showing a cross-section of the human head and neck to include the spinal column. The image is labeled correctly and is in color.the same picture could've been provided in a textbook as late as 20 or 30 years ago at a grade school or high school level. The diagram is accurate as far as labels and body parts are concerned, however they're drawing and rendering are somewhat untrue to form and don't exactly provide the insights into the function of the movable parts quite like we may see a representation today. The diagram for the tongue in particular is somewhat peculiar looking and seems to show an example of the tongue lopped off or half swallowed. This aspect of the drying is a little odd, and I suspect the artist may have taken some liberties in their drawing to expedite the process and that all the pieces in their approximate space.
Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:
- Cholera Infection
Cholera Infection. — a few days after their return the same terrible disease rapidly attack other members of the household, so that, within a fortnight, and that one little circle, 11 person’s had been seized with cholera, including a mother, father, grandmother, two daughters, sons, doctor, serving lad, serving maid, labor and countrywoman, and of these 11 only three survived, namely, the Sun, a daughter and a serving lad. Later, in the countrywoman’s family, there was another fatal case. It cannot well be doubted, concluded Mr. Simon, but that the exciting cause of the succession of events was in some way or other the return of the parents from Weymouth-of the father with the remains of choleraic diarrhea upon him, of the mother with apparently the beginnings of the same complaint. But this is only part of the case, and the remainder teaches a most impressive lesson. All the drinking water used in the house came from a well beneath the floor of the scullery, and into that well there was habitual soakage from the water closet. Now for some people reviewing 100 year old accounts of cholera epidemics might be about as exciting as reviewing marketing budgets and covering line items for promotional pens to insure that enough red pens versus blue pens have been ordered. That said this actually has some very interesting historical references in the next few sections so don’t miss them.
- Fine View of Stomach Coatings
Fine View of Stomach Coatings. — On turning over the flap we obtain a very fine view of this remarkable membrane. The areolar coat is placed between the mucous coats, and connects with both. The muscular coat is very thick and stout, and composed of three sets of fibres, the longitudinal, circular and oblique, which form three distinct layers. The outer coat is a thin, smooth, transparent and elastic membrane, derived from the peritoneum, and well lubricated to prevent friction. When the fibres of the muscular wall contract, a peculiar churning movement of the stomach is produced, thus securing the thorough mixing of its contents, that every particle may come into contact with the solvent properties of the gastric juice.
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There’s not much to say about the section however from a chemistry perspective I wonder if the author understood what comprise the gastric juice. Biology was never my strong suit however I seem to recall from chemistry class that hydrochloric acid is the actual chemical that constitutes the majority of the gastric juice, I can’t remember what strength of HCl is in the stomach, but as I recall the lining of the stomach is strong enough to hold it without being burnt or damaged. I must’ve missed the lesson that explained why your throat and esophagus and possibly your nostrils are burned when items in your stomach go the wrong way.
There are a lot of things that of been learned over the last 100 years and I want to mention that I’m not trying to point out the ignorance of the writer or the author or even demonstrate my own ignorance, I’m just trying to remark on the evolution of thought in the change that’s taken place over a hundred years. I’m comparing the written knowledge of medical professionals as compared to a layman today. It’s an apples to oranges comparison, or maybe a different way to put it with an even worse analogy is that it’s stone tool cutting versus a plasma cutting way of achieving the same result. The irony is that some stone tools actually have sharper and more precise blades and many of the tools that we’ve created over the last 100 years, and so I recognize that there are some things that we may have learned over the last 100 years that are actually a step backwards. Maybe with a little bit of luck, if I find it in this book I’ll actually know it when I see it.
- The Value of Life
We have seen in the Book of Medicine already that times were very different 100 years ago. The infant mortality rate was much much higher and life expectancy was much lower as well.
As such people had a much different perspective. They often distanced their emotions just a bit from their children. Furthermore, their concerns for the hereafter were much more immediate. Middle age today was much older today than middle age 100 years ago. This may have been part of the reason why people had a more pious view on life.
They lost their loved ones more often and sooner in life.
They worked to build up big families so that the family could continue to survive. We often limit family size for economic reasons. We buy life insurance from companies like our sponsor, Globe Insurance. They kept family grave plots.
Things were much different back then and we will explore these even more as we move past the anatomy section of the Book of Medicine and get it to the prognosis and care of many of the ailments that were common 100 years ago.