Next we will start to explore Chart III. This is a relatively short section and it will conclude book 1 on the Human body.
Just to give you a little hint of what is to come, each section here seems to kick off with the description of "something" and Its Wonders.
Example
The Eye and Its Wonders
The Ear and Its Wonders
The Hand its Mechanisms and its Wonderful Endowments
I'm not making that up. You'll see . . .
Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:
- Shape of Skull
Bones Seen in the Plate — the bones of the skull observed in this beautiful plate are: the frontal, which forms the four head or front part of the skull; the parietal, constituting a portion of the side and top of the head; the occipital, forming the lower and back part of the skull, and the temporal, which forms the lowest part of the site any part of the base of the cranium. These several bones are joined together by notched seems, after the manner carpenters call “dove-tailing.”
Shape of the Skull — the skull, as will be seen, is oval, which adapts it to the conformation of the brain, besides giving a greater resistance to pressure. The stronger and smaller and is in front, where danger is greatest to the brain, whilst the projections before and behind shield its less protected parks. The peculiar conformation and shape of the skull forms a strong shelter for the brain — an organ so delicate that if not so strongly guarded from injury, and ordinary blow falling upon it would destroy it forever.I find the description of the seems of the skull rather interesting. I am no doctor nor am I a carpenter, however the analogy of dovetailing strikes me as rather interesting. Upon looking at the picture in short one of the skull, I can distinguish get the impression that dovetailing might be an apt description. That does make me wonder how bones could be grown in a way that emulates dovetailing, however I suspect that it’s probably easier to grown organic substance in that manner than it is to join two pieces of wood by force into notched pieces and make them stick or hold in place. Maybe with the advances of nanotechnology and other areas of convergence and biotech we might actually see a day where actual dovetailing is performed with nanotechnology that grows itself into place.
Can you imagine installing a tile floor or even a wood floor where instead of using grout or glue or a nail gun you activate a nano tech compound that remembers how to join itself and seal the seems of tile or would together?
Don’t get me wrong I recognize that this would use a highly advanced technology to perform something that might actually emulate an old fashion way to cover a floor with tile or wood. It’s probably more likely by the time that we have got firmer grasp on nanotechnology that we may not have the Woods agreed a floor with and we may not have the desire to use tiles of floor covering opting instead for some more ergonomic substance that’s better for our feet and knees. I’m sure in a hundred years my comments will sound quaint and silly just like certain aspects of his books on plain silly to me today.
- Applying the Test for Lead
Applying the Test for Lead. — the sulfide of ammonium may be purchased at a small cost, save for $.25 an ounce, of most dealers and chemicals; and, as its odor is extremely disagreeable, it should be carefully corked until the moment it is used. The experiment should be made upon half a pint of the suspected water; and, if the contamination is supposed to be caused by lead pipes, it is a good plan to test a portion of the liquid which has stood overnight in the conduits. The mode of discriminating the precipitate caused by iron from those due to the dangerous metals, lead and copper, is to let fall a few drop of hydrochloric acid, called also muriatic acid, into the fluid. If the brownish or yellowish brown tent disappears, we may know that innocent iron is the only metallic impurities; whilst if, on the contrary, no change is effected by the addition of the acid, one of the poisonous metals, better copper, is present. No water, however, in which the slightest change is produced by adding the sulfide of ammonium, should be swallowed by man or beast until a rigid investigation by a competent water analyst has proved it to be harmless.
I somehow doubt that sulfide of ammonium costs that amount today. Its probably either much more expensive or sold in ridiculous bulks at every grocery store, pharmacy and gas station next to the Phentermine in one of those combination aisles that sells just a little bit of everything, but never the thing you really need.
- VIEW OF THE LARGE BLOOD-VESSELS, SPLEEN, KIDNEYS AND BLADDER
Blood Vessels of the Body.–The blood-vessels of the human body consists of heart, arteries, veins and capillaries. the heart and its wonders we have already referred to. In this magnificent chart we are enabled to form some idea of the larger blood-vessels. We see the main arterial tube of the body — the aorta — from a point where it unites with the arch of the aorta; and in its dissent downward along the spinal column it gives off numerous branches.
The Arteries.–opposite the fourth lumbar vertebra is seen to split in two, and these divisions are called, from their position, the right and left iliac arteries. These are seen to divide again into the internal and external iliac arteries, the former of which is distributed to the walls and this are contained in the pelvis, then proceeding to the lower limbs after sending two important branches to the abdominal walls. The arch of the aorta gives off the innominate artery, which divides and to the right carotid and right subclavian arteries; the left carotid and left subclavian spring direct from the arch of the aorta. Each carotid artery divides into the external and internal carotid arteries, the former being distributed to the external parts of the face and head; the latter supplies the brain and internal parts of the cranium. The subclavian arteries supply the upper extremities with blood.
__________
These sections are fairly descriptive and provide an apt description of these initial areas covered. The word innominate did throw me for a loop and I had to go look it up on Wikipedia.
As a processing point for this blog, I’m going to attempt to speed up my coverage of the book. So for things to be going a little too slow for my own tastes and I don’t want to grow stale on the topic. I hope you’ll bear with me, but this may lead to if you additional incorrect translations of the spellings from the book. I feel the need to get through the book and I suspect I will be making additional passes back to the book at later dates. If you come across anything that just doesn’t make sense and I haven’t covered already please feel free to leave a comment, I’ll reference again in the book and determine if I’ve made in an accurate translation or if it’s just a peculiar topic as it’s covered in the book itself.
I don’t expect any extreme mistakes or extra peculiar things to come up such as substituting strange words into context in the book are ascribing people wearing an animal costume or who knows what, but I am using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to translate the book and the software does upon occasion make some strange substitutions and words.