28. Tibialis (extends the ankle).
29. Extensors of the toes.
The bones which make up the framework of the body are held together by joints of different kinds which allow of widely varying ranges of motion. The skull, which contains twenty-two bones in all, includes the cranium which contains the brain, and the bones which form the framework of the face. The vertebral column, which acts as a hinged and pliable tube down the center of which runs the spinal cord, is made up of twenty-four true vertebræ and the sacrum and the coccyx. The thorax, the bony box or cage protecting the heart and lungs, is made up of the twelve dorsal vertebræ with the twelve ribs on each side and the sternum or breast bone in front. The upper extremities consist of the shoulder-blade or scapula, the collar-bone or clavicle, the humerus or upper arm bone, the two fore-arm bones (radius and ulna), and the twenty-seven bones of the hand and wrist. The pelvis is composed of the two hip bones, together with the sacrum and coccyx. The female pelvis is larger in all diameters than the male. The bones of the lower extremity, which is joined to the pelvis by the head of the thigh bone (the femur), making a ball and socket joint at the acetabulum, are the two bones of the leg, the tibia and fibula; the patella or knee-cap; and the twenty-six bones of the ankle and foot.
BOOK OF THE HUMAN BODY
The study of the Human Body involves numerous other branches of science, and, as a whole, is the most complex and intricate of all the sciences. To explain its structure and workings we apply the principles of Biology, Physiology, Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, and Metaphysics.
The individual man, as a whole, is frequently forgotten both in physiology and in medicine, owing to the extraordinary minuteness and exactness with which each part and organ is examined and described. At the outset, then, it should be remembered that the human body is an organic whole, and what makes it one is not the similarity or unity of the machines and processes, for they are unlike and many; but it is the unity of the one governing force, the mind, and especially the unconscious mind, which presides over the body.
Nothing in the body is merely mechanical, although there is much mechanism; all is vital, all is united in one great aim—the health and well-being of the individual.
All organs and systems are held together and formed into one body by means of a framework, partly fixed and partly movable, partly rigid and partly flexible, partly hard and partly soft.
The skeleton part of the framework is made of bone; flexibility is given to certain parts by means of joints, which are simply smoothed and rounded ends of bone covered with gristle to avoid friction, and joined together by fiber and ligament for strength. This forms the rigid and hard parts of the framework.