How We Walk.- the foot is in raised from the ground and swung forward into true pendulum fashion. The leg in so doing becomes flexed at the knee joint, and considerably shorter, and the whole weight of the body is transferred to and supported by the leg and foot, which is planted firmly on the ground. The leg in the foot which was swinging in the air is now brought down to the ground, the muscles passing through changes just the reverse of those employed in raising it. Planting this foot firmly on the ground, to prevent the body from failing, we raise the other foot, swing it forward, like describing the same movements as before, repeating the process alternatively with each leg. These movements constitute the act of walking; the complexity of which is fully illustrated by the consultative machinery employed for its performance, as we've seen in the beautiful place join the wonderful unskillful arrangements of the bones and muscles of the leg.
This description sounds slightly unscientific. I picture a man standing there and slowly lifting his leg while the author slowly writes in perfect form each word describing the movement, but the entire time failing to recognize the chaotic nature of walking or running which is at best an exercise in repeated controlled falling. Its much easier today to analyze true movement with the benefit of cameras and slow motion. The author might not even be suited for practicing medicine today and could possibly be better suited to accounting or banking working with mortgage lenders.
Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:
- 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.
- How May Adults Remain Healthy?
How may adults Remain Healthy?-In this day and generation struggle for existence is becoming more and more complex, the occupations are more enacting and confining, exposure to accidents more frequent, due to modern machinery and it’s difficult handling. Competition in all lines is great and therefore more string is put upon the brain and nerves of man in all walks of life. This lead-in time to state of “overwork, closed quotes nervous frustration or worry, if the individual has not the physical strength to stand the battle or fails to keep himself in a normal state of body and mind by careful living. When the latter condition, man is a suitable soil for development of disease which makes short work of the rundown systems, and such a person when exposed to disease or accident is very apt to succumb about some reserve vitality comes to the aid of him or her in the physician or surgeon in attendance and the uneven battle for life.
Man can keep his health and thus prevent disease by insisting on getting the best and purest of foods, working in factories or shops, dairies, bonds, etc., which are well lighted and ventilated, free from dust, smoke, irritating vapors from paints, gases, assets, etc. By insisting upon regular working hours, eight hours sleep, dry and warm clothing of exposed during outdoor work, but not too warmly dressed for indoor work. To your coffee and moderation is not harmful light beers, Porter, Stout, ale; wines, as Sherry, port, claret, without strong preservatives or alcohol, except in small proportions, are not harmful and refresh and cheer the tired nerves. Whiskey, Brandy, cognac, Jin, except as medicine, are absolutely harmful and the whiskey with the government allows sold in this country is a disgrace and a poison. More and more corporations and his men are insisting on their employees abstaining from its use. It causes a sense of stimulation or well-being which is temporary and is soon followed by a sense of depression which can only be relayed by a renewal of the does and the stupid man continues to be temporarily stimulated, while the total effect of his imbibing is to lower his vitality, destroy his mind, I was judgment and render ambitious; Rudy’s appetite by the action up on his stomach, harden his liver and destroy his kidneys.
That section was a little preachy but it’s definitely interesting as it provides some insight into some of the concepts that went into the prohibition movement before laws were enacted to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol by the general population in the United States. I wonder how modern preventative concepts will hold up in 100 years such as The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.
- The Stomach
The Stomach. — the stomach is an irregular expansion of the gullit or aesophagus, and is the receptacle which receives the food when swallowed. Its shape has been, not inaptly, likened to the Scotch bagpipe. It will hold about 3 pints, though it is capable of considerable distension. When moderately filled with food it measures about 12 inches in length by 4 inches in diameter at its widest end. The walls of the stomach consist of four distinct coats, held together by fine areolar tissue, and are arranged in the following order, from within out word: the mucous, the areolar, the muscular and the serous. The inner mucous coat is a smooth, soft, rather thick, pulpy membrane, loosely connected with the muscular coat, and secretes the gastric digestive fluid of the stomach.
_______The spelling in the section definitely gave me a few runaround’s. The spelling of areolar and mucous and a esophagus oral spells slightly differently than they are today most of the time. Either that or my medical contexts is extremely off base which is also possible, but I do think esophagus had a more antique like spelling as the ‘a’ and the ‘e’ were actually run together in the print as if they were one letter. I’ve seen this printing technique before but I don’t exactly understand where or why it’s used other than for words like esophagus and even Egypt, it’s almost to signify that a hard he will follow at the beginning a word that starts with the as opposed to an egg which is not pronounced ‘eeegg’ and instead ‘ehhgg’.
It’s not a real big thing, but it’s something that struck me as I was going through that section. I’m sure somewhere in the world that spelling is perfectly normal. New thing that caught my eye was the analogy of a Scottish bagpipe being similar to a stomach. I’m not going to look it up as it’s a fact that I don’t really want to know I’d rather live with the mystery of it, but I suspect the bagpipes are made or lease were made from sheep stomachs or something like that anyway. I could be completely wrong but like I said in this particular case it likely that mystery out there to savor for the rest of my days. It almost picture myself taken a cross-country trip someday on a motorcycle, getting off my bike at the end of a long day of writing and walking into a café to order some food sitting down at the counter and removing my motorcycle sunglasses.
I’ll engage in some benign conversation with a local and will start stock about Scottish bagpipes. My dinner guest to be the expert in Scottish bagpipes and I won’t know anything about them. At that point in time I can finally end the mystery and I’ll ask my dinner guest if Scottish bagpipes are actually made from sheep stomach’s. I’ll probably get a ludicrous look, maybe a guffaw, and possibly a black eye. That’s the type of thing makes life fun!