Shape of Brain-- As so graphically delineated in this beautiful as well as natural illustration of the human brain, we glean a knowledge of the origin and source of its blood supply; the arteries are observed to distribute numerous branches in very us directions along and over its surface, many of which penetrate its substance. As noticed, the brain presents an ovoid or egg shaped appearance, divided into two equal, lateral halves -- hemispheres as they are called -- thus virtually giving us two brains, the same as we have two eyes, two arms and two legs. With this surplus of brains, as it were, at our command, we are naturally lead to ask the question, who can define the metes and bounds of the mind? or described the limits of our intellectual capacity? Who can fathom the depths of thought? Or circumscribe our mental, educational or scientifical acquirements, when health grounds the human temple with its rubicund mantle? Echo answers who?Now I love it when the authors of this book go into weird speculative diatribes. In this section we are given one of those strange diatribes. The author starts to provide a description of the diagram of the brain and then launches into hypothetical questions that have no answer. It strikes me that based on the extra spectacular use of profound words, that the author is almost writing in a way to prove their knowledge and authority and their own deep thoughts only possible due to the extraordinary brain that they possess as they described the brain in general. I think it's important to mention that this book is destined for housewives in an era hundred years ago where any child that grew up to be lucky to possess and elementary education. The use of words such as 'rubicund' and 'circumscribe' strike me as words that probably weren't understood at that time. However it's possible that these were everyday words in an era when language was different than it is today. Circumscribe is not a particularly odd word today however rubicund is. So as the author left off with many hypothetical questions, I will do the same. Did the author intend to impress turn-of-the-century housewives with his fancy talk? Did the female editor of this work change the words to something fancier than what the original author had written? Was the author attempting to fill the book with more words, using 20 where one might do? Was language such as this used more commonly a hundred years ago? Is there something biblical sounding about these words or do they commit a type of philosophical sentiment? I'm sure there are dozens of other questions that can be emitted about this, but it's these types of phrases and perspectives that make this study of the book interesting.
Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:
- The Hand- Its Mechanism and Wonderful Endowments- Engraving of The Hand
The Hand; Its Mechanism and Wonderful Endowments.
Engraving of The Hand. – to tell one that this exquisite colored engraving represents a human hand seems almost like questioning his sanity. Yet such as; but how few there are who can give an intelligent account of the hand, describe its beautiful arrangements and complex mechanism, we’re told it’s wonderful endowments. Smaller compass, compact and structure, yet so skillfully arranged or its blood vessels and nerves, that they form a complete network over its surface so minute are they in their distribution that the point of the finest needle cannot penetrate any part of the hand without piercing quite a number of them. The hand is the great organ of touch and pretension in the instrument which distinguishes man in the large class of mammals, since he is the only animal which possesses to perfect and complete hands.
I just don’t think I have ever heard the human hand referred to before in health, science, anatomy or biology as a mechanism, like its a toilet or tankless water heaters or some elaborate dog feeding gizmo that you’d find in a mad scientists home in a bad Michael J Fox movie.
OK, so it wasn’t that bad!
- Powers of the Hand – Skill of the hand
Powers of the Hand. – and how very good and useful or its endowments! How wondrously adapted to the uses to which it is daily applied! It’s elegance of outline, delicacy of mold and beauty of color has ever made it the attractive study of the artist; whilst its elasticity, flexibility and strength, combined with its delicate and exquisite mobility, and perfect adaptation as an organ of pretension, have led many philosophers to attribute man’s high and graceful spear he worked he even more to the hand them to the mine. Glowing thoughts are penned up on the pages of history by means of the hand; it wheels the artist pencil and brush, and makes the bare canvas and attractive and valuable work of art; how it strikes the keyboard of the piano with so delicate a touch that low, sweet, plaintive strains of music are brought forth; now the force of the blow is much greater and firmer, and louder and louder and more thrilling musical strains.
Skill of the Hand. – the farmers toil, a housewife status, the dressmakers deafness, the mechanics skill, are all accomplished by the human hand. How constantly does the lives from an aids us in expressing our feelings. It is the orator’s chief aide and giving expression to his lofty strains of eloquence, or emphasizing his pathetic appeals.
At this point, for this session I am going to sign off. The platitudes have finally gotten to me but don’t fear. We’ll be back again and you can continue to read my droll commentary like subtitling on a bad Sundance Film Festival Marathon in Italian.
- 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.