The Muscles : Part 3

Hygienic Physiology: with Special Reference to the Use of Alcoholic Drinks and Narcotics
by Joel Dorman Steele, Ph.D.

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The Wonders of the Muscles. - The grace, ease, and rapidity with which the muscles contract are astonishing. By practice, they acquire a facility which we call mechanical. The voice may utter one thousand five hundred letters in a minute, yet each requires a distinct position of the vocal organs. We train the muscles of the fingers till they glide over the keys of the piano, executing the most exquisite and difficult harmony. In writing, each letter is formed by its peculiar motions, yet we make them so unconsciously that a skillful penman will describe beautiful curves while thinking only of the idea that the sentence is to express.

The mind of the violinist is upon the music which his right hand is executing, while his left determines the length of the string and the character of each note so carefully that not a false sound is heard, although the variation of a hair's breadth would cause a discord. In the arm of a blacksmith, the biceps muscle may grow into the solidity almost of a club; the hand of a prize fighter will strike a blow like a sledge hammer; while the engraver traces lines invisible to the naked eye, and the fingers of the blind acquire a delicacy that almost supplies the place of the missing sense.

Diseases, Etc. - l. St. Vitus' Dance is a disease of the voluntary muscles, whereby they are in frequent, irregular, and spasmodic motion beyond the control of the will. All causes of excitement, and especially of fear, should be avoided, and the general health of the patient invigorated, as this disease is closely connected with a derangement of the nervous system.

2. Convulsions are an involuntary contraction of the muscles. Consciousness is wanting, while the limbs may be stiff or in spasmodic action.

3. Locked-jaw is a disease in which there are spasms and a contraction of the muscles, usually beginning in the lower jaw. It is serious, often fatal, yet it sometimes follows as trivial an injury as the stroke of a whip lash, the lodgment of a bone in the throat, a fishhook in the finger, or a tack in the sole of the foot.

4. Gout is characterized by an acute pain located chiefly in the small joints of the foot, especially those of the great toe, which become swollen and extremely sensitive. It is generally accompanied by an excess of uric acid in the blood, and a deposit of urine of soda about the affected joint. Gout is often the result of high living, and of too much animal food. It is frequently inherited.

5. Rheumatism affects mainly the connective, white, fibrous tissue of the larger joints. While gout is the punishment of the rich who live luxuriously, rheumatism afflicts alike the poor and the rich. There are two common forms of rheumatism - the inflammatory or acute, and the chronic. The latter is of long continuance; the former terminates more speedily. The acute form is probably a disease of the blood, which carries with it some poisonous matter that is deposited where the fibrous tissue is most abundant. The disease flies capriciously from one joint to another, and the pain caused by even the slightest motion deprives the sufferer of the use of the disabled part and its muscles. Its chief danger lies in the possibility of its affecting the vital organs. Chronic rheumatism - the result of repeated attacks of the acute - leads to great suffering, and oftentimes to disorganization of the joints and an interference with the movements of the heart.

6. Lumbago is an inflammation of the lumbar muscles and fascia. It may be so moderate as to produce only a "lame back," or so severe as to disable, as in the case of what is popularly termed a "crick in the back." Strong swimmers who sometimes drown without apparent cause are supposed to be seized in this way.

7. A Ganglion, or what is vulgarly called a "weak" or "weeping" sinew, is the swelling of a bursa. It sometimes becomes so distended by fluid as to be mistaken for bone. If on binding something hard upon it for a few days it does not disappear, a physician will remove the liquid by means of a hypodermic syringe, or perhaps cause it to be absorbed by an external application of iodine.

Practical Questions.

1. What class of lever is the foot when we lift a weight on the toes?

2. Explain the movement of the body backward and forward, when resting upon the thigh bone as a fulcrum.

3. What class of lever do we use when we lift the foot while sitting down?

4. Explain the swing of the arm from the shoulder.

5. What class of lever is used in bending our fingers?

6. What class of lever is our foot when we tap the ground with our toes?

7. What class of lever do we use when we raise ourselves from a stooping position?

8. What class of lever is the foot when we walk?

9. Why can we raise a heavier weight with our hand when lifting from the elbow than from the shoulder?

10. What class of lever do we employ when we are hopping, the thigh bone being bent up toward the body and not used?

11. Describe the motions of the bones when we are using a gimlet.

12. Why do we tire when we stand erect?

13. Why does it rest us to change our work?

14. Why and when is dancing a beneficial exercise?

15. Why can we exert greater force with the back teeth than with the front ones?

16. Why do we lean forward when we wish to rise from a chair?

17. Why does the projection of the heel bone make walking easier?

18. Does a horse travel with less fatigue over a flat than a hilly country?

19. Can you move your upper jaw?

20. Are people naturally right or left-handed?

21. Why can so few persons move their ears by the muscles?

22. Is the blacksmith's right arm healthier than the left?

23. Boys often, though foolishly, thrust a pin into the flesh just above the knee. Why is it not painful?

24. Will ten minutes' practice in a gymnasium answer for a day's exercise?

25. Why would an elastic tendon be unfitted to transmit the motion of a muscle?

26. When one is struck violently on the head, why does he instantly fall?

27. What is the cause of the difference between light and dark meat in a fowl?