Legs

“ The bones of the fore legs show with beautiful distinctness inside the shadowy flesh, while a closer inspection makes visible the ribs, the cartilages of the ear, and a lighter region in the centre of the body, which marks the location of the heart. ”

“ From morning until night, day after day, year after year, the muscles of her shoulders, her back, her hips, her legs, her abdomen are suppled and developed until they will respond to her wishes as readily as her slender, henna-stained fingers. ”

“ Their bodies, though lean, are hardy and strong, with broad chests, and square high shoulders, strong, well knit joints and firm sinews, thick and large thighs, with short legs, so that, being equal to us in stature, what they want in their legs is supplied in the upper part of their bodies. ”

“ There are no legs, nor even any indication of legs, the body being little more than a block of wood, with a hole at the top for the insertion of the neck, and a smaller hole at each shoulder for the insertion of the arms. ”

“ The legs and feet may turn inward, developing knockknees and flat-foot, or outward, growing into bow-legs, with the feet invariably treading over the opposite way. If a child grows up with either of these distortions, after being born with sound limbs, which might have been continued [Pg 106] in their natural perfection, there is, on the part of somebody, a sad lack of duty. ”

“ In this, the legs and feet are closed; the knees are bent till the calves nearly touch the thighs; the upper part of the body, kept straight, is inclined a little forward; and the arms thrown in the direction of the leap, which increases the impulse, preserves the balance, and may be useful in a fall. ”

“ The legs to be close together or one slightly advanced, in a position of rest. The arms can be carried either by locking hands behind the back, or in front, or they can be folded upon the chest; either way can be made to appear graceful. ”

“ Little by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. ”

“ Your head is set logically on your neck, and your neck is correctly placed on your spine, and your legs and arms are properly attached to your torso—your entire body, anatomically speaking, is hinged, hung, supported, developed as the ideal body should be. ”

“ There are two arms and two legs growing out of the human trunk. The branches of a tree we call limbs, and so we speak of the arms and legs as limbs. We sometimes call the arms the upper extremities, and the legs the lower extremities. ”

“ They go without any covering for the thigh, except that before spoken of, round the middle, which reaches down half way the thighs; but they make for their legs a sort of stocking either of skins or cloth: these are sewed as near to the shape of the leg as possible, so as to admit of being drawn on and off. ”

“ The body is longer, the hips broader, and the abdomen more prominent. Relatively to the length of the body, the arms, legs, feet and hands are shorter than in men, the lower leg and arm are shorter in proportion to the upper leg and arm. ”

“ In the Figure the legs are, for clearness, made to radiate, but in the proper position the anterior pair should be approximate in front, and the middle and hind pairs directed backwards under the body. The legs are not to be treated as if they were hanging from the body, though that is the position they frequently actually assume. ”

“ The feet serve both as supports for the body and as levers for pushing the body forward. By their attachment to the legs they may be placed in all necessary positions for supporting and moving the body. ”

“ The various parts of the feet and legs do not mature at the same rate—those at the upper part of the body increase at a greater rate than the lower parts. Thighs develop first, next the upper part of the legs, and lastly the feet. ”

“ The legs, which constitute such a striking feature, are merely appendages to the bodies of vases already perfect, and are evidently an acquired feature suggested by some change in function or in the habits of the people. In this way we are able to account for the 98 rather uncouth look observed in so many cases, the legs being too long and too heavy to please the cultured taste ”

“ He says that one might assign as "the cause why I am sitting here that my body is composed of bones and muscles; that the bones are solid and separate, and that the muscles can be contracted and extended, and are all inclosed in the flesh and skin; and that the bones, being jointed, can be drawn by the muscles, and so I can move my legs as you see ”

“ You will represent here for a comparison, the legs of a frog, which have a great resemblance to the legs of man, both in the bones and in the muscles. Then, in continuation, the hind legs of the hare, which are very muscular, with strong active muscles, because they are not encumbered with fat. ”

“ Then the turning out of the toes causes the legs to splay outward from the knees downwards—a very conspicuous condition in a tall man like this one—and you notice that the left leg splays out more than the other. ”

“ Most striking, perhaps, in their general appearance was the disproportion between the legs of these creatures and the length of their bodies; and yet—so relative is our idea of grace—my eye became habituated to their forms, and at last I even fell in with their persuasion that my own long thighs were ungainly. ”

“ In serial homology with the thigh and leg are the bones of the arm and we find that these are undergoing an increase in length commensurate with the increase of the legs. So the boy outgrows his clothes; his coat sleeves are drawn up half way to his elbows and his trousers half way to his knees. The muscles scarcely keep pace with the bones in their growth, and tend to be flabby and to lack usual tonicity. ”

“ When both legs stand firmly on the ground, the above-mentioned muscles are unable to raise the thigh; instead, on shortening, they draw down the pelvis, which now presents the more mobile point, and thus bend forward the whole upper part of the body. ”

“ Even in those cases where they are entirely terrestrial and apparently of similar habits, the legs frequently differ both in their relative proportions and in the amount of the component articulations. ”

“ In discussing the question, he used to like the case to that of the boy who, when asked how many legs his calf would have if he called its tail a leg, replied, “five,” to which the prompt response was made that calling the tail a leg would not make it a leg. ”

“ The large or apparently Sweled legs particularly observable in the women, are obtained in a great measure by tying a cord tight around the leg above the ancle bone. their method of Squating or resting themselves on their hams which they Seam from habit to prefer to Setting, no doubt contributes much to this deformity of the legs by preventing free circulation of the blood. ”

“ QUESTIONS ON THE LIMBS AND JOINTS OF THE BODY.
What is the trunk of your body?—"All the body but the head and limbs."
Which are your limbs?—"My two arms and my two legs."
How many limbs have you?—"Four."
How many parts has your arm?—"Two parts: my upper arm and my fore-arm."
How many parts has your leg?—"Two parts: my thigh and my lower leg."
How many joints has your arm?—"Three joints: my shoulder joint, my elbow joint, my wrist joint."
How many joints has your leg?—"Three joints: my hip joint, my knee joint, my ankle joint." ”

“ He was very small, not over four and a half feet high, and there was a noticeable disproportion between the long trunk of his body and his short legs. His chest was broad and indicated great strength of lungs. ”

“ Joint-stools were then created; on three legs
Upborne they stood. Three legs upholding firm
A massy slab, in fashion square or round.
On such a stool immortal Alfred sat,
And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms:
And such in ancient halls and mansions drear
May still be seen; ”

“ His head looked like a ball nailed onto another ball, which had legs so short that they almost resembled balls too. ”

“ At this unpardonable piece of ill-breeding, all the original companyhalf-started to their feet, and uttered the same rapid succession of wild fiendish shrieks which had before caught the attention of the seamen. The president, however, was the first to recover his composure, and at length, turning to Legs with great dignity, recommenced:
“Most willingly will we gratify any reasonable curiosity on the part of guests so illustrious, unbidden though they be. ”

“ His numerous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to the rest of his circumference, flickered helplessly before his eyes. ”

“ Redhot times those were, you bet."
"Pretty lively times now," remarked Legs soberly. "Going up in an airplane ain't so slow. Say, Cat, pity about you!"
Cat winked one eye and then the other and grinned knowingly as if he were possessed of an important and highly amusing secret which he was inwardly enjoying.
"Look here, fellows," he said finally, "I'm not sore because you two drew the plane this time." And then he added in a low and mysterious tone, "Know sumpthin'? I've been up in one already."
"Yes, you have!" returned Jimmy sarcastically. "Over the left!" ”

“ Where the leg, for instance, has been lost, they feel as if the foot was present, but as though the leg were shortened. If the thigh has been taken off, there seems to them to be a foot at the knee; if the arm, a hand seems to be at the elbow, or attached to the stump itself. ”

“ Advantage might occasionally be derived if the back of the hand could tell us more than it does about the shapes of the surfaces touched. Why should the thigh near the knee be twice as perceptive as the middle of the thigh? And, last of all, why should the middle of the forearm, middle of the thigh, middle of the back of the neck, and middle of the back, all stand on the lowest level, as having but one-thirtieth of the perceptive power which the tip of the forefinger has? ”

“ The line of the back from the shoulder to the bent knee of the resting young body is of a unique softness; the transition from the thigh to hip is like velvet in the softness of the body; the feet and toes are of classic beauty. ”

“ Anatomy recognizes the fact, that in the number and character of the bones, joints, and muscles of the foot and leg, and the connection of the femur or thigh-bone at the pelvis, there is a strict similarity or correspondence with those of the hand and arm, and the connection of the latter at the shoulder-blade. ”

“ The limbs that take their shape from the muscles of locomotion, and the internal parts concerned in those high vital offices, of which minerals and vegetables are wholly destitute, are examples and proof of the configuration proper to the animal kingdom. The thigh, leg, arm, fore-arm, finger, the neck and shoulders, the chest, and the abdomen meeting it and resting on the pelvic bones, are felt to be beautiful or true to the standard form as they taper or conform to this intuitive life-type. ”

“ The bones and their ligaments, the muscles and their tendons, all the finer, and all the more flexible parts of the body, are as continually renewed, and as properly a secretion, as the saliva that flows from the mouth, or the moisture that bedews the surface. ”

“ Everything in the structure of the fore-limbs indicates the animal's burrowing instinct,—the length of the bone, which corresponds to the human radius, or fore-arm,—the breadth of the hands,—and the bend of the arms, which are so fashioned that the elbows project outwardly. ”

“ If the size of the thighs be not large, the haunches as it were increasing till they reach their greatest extent at the upper part of the thigh, which anteriorly rises as high as the mons veneris, and if the knees do not approximate.
18. If the arms and the limbs be not relatively short, if they do not taper greatly as they recede from the trunk, and if the hands and feet be not small; because, it is the vital system and the trunk, which is by far the most important part in the female. ”

“ Its peculiar characteristic is that the feet are no more active than any other part of the body; arms, shoulders, abdomen, head—all the parts and every muscle are set in motion, sometimes including even the eyes and the tongue. ”

“ At these times he will throw his body into almost every conceivable posture—twisting, turning, bending, stooping, the arms down, forward, back, and over his head, the muscles of the limbs and entire body flexed almost to the point of tremor, the fingers spread, and the muscles rigidly tensed. ”

“ He sees each person directly from the front as he approaches, and his glance travels rapidly from feet to head. In this rapid glance he notes the gait, attitude, presence of flat feet, lameness, stiffness at ankle, knee, or hip, malformations of the body, observes the neck for goitre, muscular development, scars, enlarged glands, texture of skin, and finally as the immigrant comes up face to face, the examiner notes abnormalities of the features, eruptions, scars, paralysis, expression, etc. ”

“ The pelvic, or hind, limb supports the body. The bones of each leg are the femur, which constitutes the thigh, the tibia and the fibula, which represents the leg, and the metatarsus and the phalanges, which form the foot. ”

“ For we move at will not only those members which are furnished with joints of solid bone, as the hands, feet, and fingers, but we move also at will those which are composed of slack and soft nerves: we can put them in motion, or stretch them out, or bend and twist them, or contract and stiffen them, as we do with the muscles of the mouth and face. ”

“ On the other hand, the femur is united, as with us, to a massive pelvis; the articular surfaces of the knee, the knee-pan, and the two immovable bones of the leg, are just what the exclusive function of locomotion requires; the foot is plantigrade, with a prominent heel and close toes, and is articulated perpendicularly by its arch with the leg, as in man. ”