Hand organ

“ The hand is defined as "the organ of apprehension." How perfectly the definition fits my case in both senses of the word "apprehend"! With my hand I seize [34] and hold all that I find in the three worlds—physical, intellectual, and spiritual. ”

“ Nowhere in the body are nerves more abundant than in the skin. Here we have nerves of motion to the muscles of the skin; nerves of pain, temperature, and touch; forming an intricate plexus of nonmedulated fibres sending their branches upward into [Pg 57] each papilla, and even to the mucous layer of the epidermis. Vasomotor nerves supply the coats of most blood vessels of the skin, and trophic nerves are everywhere controlling the nutrition of each part. When it is considered what a complex organ the skin really is ”

“ Diseases of the chest are generally confined to heart, lungs, pleura, the pericardium, mediastium, blood vessels, with nerves and lymphatics. As we open the breast we behold the heart, a very large machine or engine, situated conveniently to throw blood to all parts of the body. To it we see hose or pipes that go to each organ, all muscles, the stomach, bowels, liver, spleen, kidneys, bladder and womb, all bones, fibers, ligaments, membranes, and its body, lungs and brain. ”

“ First, other congeries of glands occupy but a particular part of the system, or constitute a particular organ, as the liver, or kidneys; but those glands, which secrete the mucus, and perspirable matter, which are called capillaries, are of very great extent; they receive the blood from the arteries, separate from it the mucus, which lines every cell, and covers every cavity of body; and the perspirable matter, which softens and lubricates the whole surface of the skin, and the more extensive surface of the air-vessels, which compose the lungs. ”

“ As every organ is nourished, and as the mechanism of nutrition is uniform, it follows that these two systems belong to all the organs. After them the cellular system is the most generally found. Where there are no blood vessels, it is sometimes met with, and it always exists where these vessels are. Next to this, the arteries and veins are spread to the greatest number of parts. Oftentimes no nerve is discoverable, where they penetrate, as in the aponeuroses, the fibrous membranes, &c. ”

“ Then "quickly turn the patient on his back, the bolster again making the epigastrium and anterior margins of the costal cartilages the highest point of the body, the shoulders and occiput barely resting on the ground. Seize the patient's wrists, and, having secured the utmost possible extension of them behind his head, hold them fast to the ground with your left hand. With a dry pocket-handkerchief between the right thumb and forefinger withdraw the tongue, holding it at the extreme right corner of the mouth. If a boy be at hand, both wrists and tongue may be confided to his care. ”

“ From all that I have said, it is evident that in the organs whose capillary system contains in part blood, and in part different fluids, the proportion of the first to the others is infinitely variable; that a thousand causes in a state of health, as in that of disease, by bringing to the organ more or less blood, can fill more or less its capillary system. ”

“ But the quantity of blood that is forced into the mesentery by each stroke of the heart, may be estimated in the same way as you estimate the quantity impelled into the hand when you bind a ligature with medium tightness about the wrist: if in so many beats the vessels of the hand become distended, and the whole extremity swells, you will find, that much more than a single drop of blood has entered with each pulse, and which cannot return, but must remain to fill the hand and increase its size. ”

“ The excretory, the lungs, skin, and kidneys, by means of which those waste matters pass out of the body. As far as the subject of clothes is concerned, we have to deal chiefly with the circulatory system in its relation to the skin.
The circulation of the blood is carried on by means of the heart, arteries, and veins.
The heart is a very powerful muscle, which acts as a kind of pumping machine; it is divided down the middle, by a muscular partition, into two parts, called the right and the left side, and no blood can pass from the one side into the other. ”

“ Division of the superficial branch in the upper two-thirds of the forearm produces no loss of sensibility; division in the lower third after the nerve has become associated with branches from the musculo-cutaneous is followed by a loss of sensibility on the radial side of the hand and thumb. Wounds on the dorsal surface of the wrist and forearm are often followed by loss of sensibility over a larger area, because the musculo-cutaneous nerve is divided as well, and some of the fibres of the lower lateral cutaneous branch of the radial. ”

“ Each organ is to every other as an excreting organ. In other words, to insure perfect health, every tissue, bone, nerve, tendon, or muscle should take from the blood certain materials and return to it certain others. To do this every organ must or ought to have its period of activity and of rest, so as to keep the vital fluid in a proper state to nourish every other part. ”

“ The walls of the organ are composed almost entirely of a soft, tender parenchyma, formed, for the most part, of vascular ramifications, the trunks of which, three or four in number, communicate with the interior of the branchial heart, through the peduncle. The walls of these trunks and of the peduncle are composed of stout, tough membrane. The cavity of the appendage does not communicate with that of the heart, but opens, as we have seen, externally, or into the chamber within which the organ is placed, so that the fluid surrounding it will bathe its inner as well as its outer surface. ”

“ Each organ has the shape of a biconvex lens, sunk to about half its thickness in the skin. The inner half is formed of radially-arranged gland tubes filled with small granular cells, and converging towards the centre of the organ. Into the connective-tissue walls of the tubes extend blood-vessels and nerves. External to the gland tubes there is a layer of long slender cells arranged perpendicularly to the surface, and more externally still a layer of ganglion cells. There is evidence that these organs multiply by division. ”

“ Careful observation and handling the heart made it clear that the organ was muscular, and that its systole was in every way comparable with the contraction which occurs in the muscles of the forearm when the fingers are moved. “The contraction of the heart is therefore of greater importance than its relaxation. ”

“ The body-wall is highly muscular and, except in a few probably specialized cases, possesses chitinous spines, the setae, which are secreted by the ectoderm and are embedded in pits of the skin. They possess a modified anterior end, frequently with special sense organs, forming a head, a segmented nervous system, consisting of a pair of anterior, dorsally-placed ganglia, a ring surrounding the alimentary canal, and a double ventral ganglionated chain, a definite vascular system, an excretory system consisting of nephridia, and paired generative organs formed from the coelomic epithelium. ”

“ The nervous system consists of a well-defined circumoesophageal ring with two dorsal swellings, and, arising from this, a median ventral cord which runs the whole length of the body. The cord consists of three longitudinal strands with ganglionic cells below them; the latter, though they lie within the muscle layer, maintain a connexion with the hypodermis. Behind, the nerve-cord splits in the male, one half passing into each caudal fork. In the adult a pair of black eyes can be detected on the head; the only other sense organs are the tactile bristles mentioned above. ”

“ The essential part of each luminous organ is always a collection of gland cells, usually disposed so as to form the lining of a series of radially arranged gland-tubules in the deeper part of the organ, which also contains ganglion cells, and is supplied with nerves from contiguous spinal or cranial nerves. ”

“ In the body the blood within the capillary is a stream of raw material about to be made muscle, or bone, or brain, and of stuff which, having been muscle, or bone, or brain, is no longer of any use, and is on its way to be cast out. The actual making of muscle, or of bone, or of brain, is carried on, and the work of each is done, outside the blood, in the little plots of tissue into which no red corpuscle comes. ”

“ The skeletal muscles and the muscular walls of the viscera at each contraction express the blood within them, and materially influence the circulation. The whole muscular system, as well as the heart, must therefore be regarded as a pump to the vascular system. The capillary wall is composed 'of a single layer of flattened cells, separating the blood within from the tissues without. ”

“ In cases where obstruction to the arterial circulation is more general, so that it requires an increased heart-force to pump the blood through its channels, we observe the heart itself to become larger, and thus its increase of structure (like the blacksmith's arm) is adapted to the required increase of function. The head of the thigh-bone, when irreducibly dislocated, becomes surrounded in its new position with fibro-ligamentous and muscular structures, which so far resemble an articulation as to permit the patient to walk about. ”

“ The newly-born cells of the blood-vessels unite with their brothers on the other side, evenly and in an orderly manner, new tubular channels being formed skillfully. The cells of the connective tissues likewise grow toward each other, and unite in the same orderly manner. The nerve-cells repair their broken lines, just as do a gang of linemen repair the interrupted telegraph system. The muscles are united in the same way. But mark you this, there is no mistake in this connecting process—muscle does not connect with nerve, nor blood-vessel with connective tissue. ”

“ The fibers of involuntary muscles form the proper muscular coats of the digestive canal, æsophagus, urinary bladder, trachea, bronchi, gall-bladder, blood-vessels, lymphatics, etc. To this kind of fiber, muscular fiber, the term organic is often applied. The sympathetic or ganglionic portion of the nervous system, which consists of a chain of ganglia connected by nervous cords, extends from the cranium to the pelvis, along each side of the vertebral column, and from which nerves with ganglia proceed to the viscera in the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic cavities. ”

“ The nervous system, notwithstanding the fact that the three last thoracic segments are free, is chiefly concentrated into a mass surrounding the oesophagus. Nerves are given off in front to the eyes, the labrum, and the chelicerae, while double nerves radiate to the pedipalps and to the legs. From behind the nerve-mass three nerves emerge, and pass through the diaphragm to enter the abdomen. The median nerve swells into an “abdominal ganglion” just behind the diaphragm, and is then distributed to the diverticula of the alimentary canal. The lateral nerves innervate the generative organs. ”

“ So much is certain, that in that region, where arteries and veins are not to be seen, there are also no separate nerve twigs, and that here the union or coalescence of nerve and tissue which the nerves are to influence must have taken place. If one considers the fine meshes of the capillary network enveloping the ducts, and keeps in mind the abundance of nuclei belonging to the capillary, the membrana propria and the duct cells proper, he can imagine how difficult it must be to follow the course of the nerves through and among all these structures. ”

“ Within the thoracic cavity anterior to the heart note a mass of pinkish tissue, the thymus gland. Observe the large masseter muscles, which cover the jaws. What is their function? On either side of the neck lies a large blood-vessel, the external jugular vein, which collects blood from the head and carries it down to the heart. Note the large pectoral muscles which cover the breast and extend out into the arms, and which are so strong and highly developed in the sparrow. The head is supported by large muscles which run down the back of the neck to the ribs. ”

“ The nerves that supply the sense of touch, proceed from the anterior half of the spinal cord. Where this sense is most acute and delicate, we find the greatest number of sensitive nervous filaments, and those of the largest size.
Observation. In amputating limbs, and other surgical operations, the division of the skin causes more pain than all the subsequent steps of the operation, however protracted. The muscles, cellular membrane, and fat have but little sensibility; while the bones, tendons, and ligaments are insensible when not diseased, and may be cut without causing pain. ”

“ In the first (1) we have the epithelium of the nerve (scn in Fig. 47) in surface view, the cells appearing polygonal in outline, with here and there a mucous cell. In (2) we find a very slight layer of ganglion cells and fibres having a transverse direction (gc and fp in Fig. 47) . These are continuous with the plexus of fibres and ganglion cells which lie above the muscle layer all over the subumbrella, and which represent the motor part of the nervous system. This connection with the nerve shows how co-ordination is effected. ”

“ Nerves coloured red are the motor nerves to the branchial muscles. Nerves coloured blue are the internal sensory nerves to the diaphragms and the external sensory nerves to the sense-organs of the lateral line system. Br. cart., branchial cartilage; M. con. str., striated constrictor muscles; M. con. tub., tubular constrictor muscles; M. add., adductor muscle; D.A., dorsal aorta; V.A., ventral aorta; S., sense-organs on diaphragm; n. Lat., lateral line nerve ”