Skeleton

“ Directly in front of us, but some distance off, in the dark portion of a forest glade, appeared some twenty or thirty skeleton forms, every limb in rapid motion, twisting and turning and leaping,—the legs and arms being thrown out sometimes alternately, like the toy figures worked by a string for the amusement of babies and small children. ”

“ There was one little old withered skeleton of a woman, like a death's head in artificial flowers, who stretched out her harpy claws upon the rouleaus of gold and silver, without moving a muscle or a wrinkle of her face,—with hardly an additional twinkle in her dull grey eye. ”

“ By-and-by, with a wild and gibbering laugh that chilled the beholders' blood, one of the tallest and grisliest of the skeletons sprang forward, and beating his drum, the whole ghostly company formed, two and two, into a line—a skeleton placing itself on the right of every mortal. ”

“ Allowing for the difference of species, the skeleton, when worked out of its matrix, and set up, is precisely like that of the little beast at whose death you were actually present, whose bones you cleaned with your own hands, and mounted for your own museum. It would be as reasonable to deny that the one is the skeleton of a real animal as the other. ”

“ With one consent, though in silence, every one gathered nearer, and looked in—they saw a human skeleton. The action of the elements, which the sands had not been able to impede, had destroyed every vestige of a human frame, except those discoloured bones, and long tresses of dark hair, which were wound around the scull. ”

“ On a chest at the other side of the apartment lay another skeleton, apparently that of a new-born child, whose tiny shanks, worm-like finger bones, and small head, formed a striking and painful contrast to its full-grown companion—suggesting the probability of some kindred blood having once warmed the sapless bones, and some kindred fate having dried it up, leaving these dry tokens as the only monument of their sorrows and misfortunes. ”

“ Some of the tombs are open, as if burst asunder by an explosion, and the skeletons stand bolt upright; some are half closed, and their occupants creeping quietly out; while in others the disjointed bones are seen, not yet rebuilt into human shape, or a skeleton is detected half clothed with flesh, and some bones still protruding in their original bareness. ”

“ Under the earth and a layer of ashes the skeleton lies with its head covered by a little brazier of baked clay, and accompanied by arrows, fragments of double-edged knives, obsidian fragments, bird-bone necklaces strung on twisted bird-gut, smooth stones, some small semi-spheres of baked clay with a hole in the centre of each, and a few grotesque idols. ”

“ I have even walked across a field—a field of turf all fiery in our early summer sunlight—and studied the early angular red skeleton which has turned golden in the sun. It is odd that the skeleton of a house is cheerful when the skeleton of a man is mournful, since we only see it after the man is destroyed. ”

“ His cheek bones project fearfully, and his large temples seem, by the ghastly skin which is drawn tight about them, to remind one of those of a skeleton, were it not that the image is made still more appalling by the existence of life. ”

“ A man of stone would have been impressed. There is no need to describe a brown skeleton—the projecting ribs and spiny backbone, the legs and arms like withered sticks, the deep pits at the collarbones, the loose and crinkly skin. ”

“ It is not only that universal experience has declared the fact that every skeleton was once part of a living body; it has shown that the very structure and nature of the skeleton implied living body. The skeleton, in every part, displays a regard for the advantages of the living animal; it is built expressly for it; by itself it is nothing—a machine without any object; its joints, its cavities, its apophyses, its processes, all have special reference to tissues and organs which are not here now, but which belong to the living body. ”

“ No museum had ever before attempted to mount so large a fossil skeleton, and you see, Perry, the bones were so fragile that they could not even bear their own weight, much less the weight of the skeleton. ”

“ Underneath the large stones lay the skeleton of a man, in the prime of life, and of fine proportions, apparently the sole occupant of the mound; who had been interred while enveloped in a skin of dark-red colour, the hairy surface of which had left many traces both upon the surrounding earth and upon the verdigris, or patina, coating; a bronze axe-shaped celt and dagger deposited with the skeleton. ”

“ This is more especially the case with respect to the skeleton, which forms the foundation of all the other mechanisms within the body, and is of the highest importance in the history of fossil animals, of which we rarely find any other remains besides the bones, and teeth, and the scaly or osseous integuments. ”

“ Next we come to the osseous system—the skeleton—the God-fashioned framework of the house he lives in—and a house only—one, too, that is often let to bad tenants, seeing how zealously they abuse it and batter down its walls. Now, when we see a skeleton, we know it is something that points towards the human, yet do not for that reason, even momentarily, confound the bones with the individual ”

“ Behind the last, and near the south-west corner of the chamber, was the skeleton of a man of medium stature, from thirty to thirty-five years of age. The skull, which bears no marks of injury, is of a beautifully regular and somewhat lengthened oval form. ”

“ No other complete skeleton was found in the mound, though pieces of human bones representing nearly all parts of the skeleton were scattered through different parts of the structure, together with the bones of other animals. ”

“ It may be stated here also that these scattered human bones, the flints and broken pieces of pottery, together with the shells and bones of animals, were all of them above the depth where the skeleton was found, as though they were mixed with the earth of which the mound was built. ”

“ At the place where our lamps were lighted, are to be seen the wooden pipes which conducted the water, as it fell from the ceiling, to the vats or saltpetre hoppers; and near this spot too, are interred the bones of a giant, of such vast size is the skeleton, at least of such portions of it as remain. ”

“ This skeleton is that of a large and powerfully built man, the bones being very heavy and strong with marked impressions and prominences for muscular attachment. The skeleton, with the exception of some of the small bones of the hands and feet is complete.
The skull is large and massive, and the lower jaw very strong and heavy. ”

“ We all of us have skeletons, large or small, in some cupboard of our lives, but a well regulated skeleton that will stay in its cupboard quietly does not much matter. There are skeletons, however, which can never be quite trusted not to open the cupboard door at some awkward moment, go down stairs, ring the hall-door bell, with grinning face announce themselves as the skeleton, and ask whether the master or mistress is at home. This kind of skeleton, though no bigger than a rabbit, will sometimes loom large as that of a dinotherium. My father was Yram’s skeleton. ”

“ In the ancient burials, on the other hand, the skeletons are almost invariably found at the base of the mounds, and in such a state of decay as to render all attempts to restore the skull, or indeed any part of the skeleton, entirely hopeless. ”

“ Many had ended their misery under shady trees, others under projecting crags in the hills, while others lay in their huts with closed doors, which when opened disclosed the mouldering corpse with the poor rags round the loins, the skull fallen off the pillow, the little skeleton of the child, that had perished first, rolled up in a mat between two large skeletons. ”

“ But the skeleton is more obvious because it is less clothed with flesh and garments over the flesh; the texture of the canvas shows more because it is less worked upon. Some of these common forms, however, are more peculiar to medieval times ”

“ It is said that there is a skeleton in every household. The skeleton is locked up—put away in a cupboard—- and rarely seen. Only the people inside the house know of its existence. But the skeleton, nevertheless, cannot long be concealed. It comes to light in some way or another. ”

“ THE SKELETON
THE SKELETON
In the room next to the one in which we boys used to sleep, there hung a human skeleton. In the night it would rattle in the breeze which played about its bones. In the day these bones were rattled by us. We were taking lessons in osteology from a student in the Campbell Medical School, for our guardians were determined to make us masters of all the sciences. How far they succeeded we need not tell those who know us; and it is better hidden from those who do not. ”

“ The wretched woman with the infant has actually placed her foot on the spring, and so great is the artist’s power of realization, that we momentarily expect to see the horrible thing close with a snap! A skeleton, whose fleshless skull is masked with a pleasant female countenance, officiates as barmaid, and behind her yawns a pit, on the further side of which a circle of evil spirits curvet around a huge still. ”

“ Immediately in the east angle formed by these two stones was a skull, belonging to a skeleton lying at right angles to the one already mentioned, and protected by large stones. In the opposite angle, and lying parallel with, and close to, the division wall first named, was the skeleton, apparently of a woman; but with these remains I did not notice any skull. ”

“ Among these they shew a human skeleton. This does not excite a great deal of attention, till you are informed that it consists of the bones of a Milanese Lady, of distinguished beauty, who, by her last will, ordained that her body should be dissected, and the skeleton placed in this Museum, for the contemplation of posterity. ”

“ On man's skeleton these observations are even more exact and are so definite that given a single skull or skeleton it is possible to tell with considerable certainty the age, sex and race of the individual, while for a series of skeletons the results are definite. The skeletons tell much of man's history, for the articulation of the bones and the lines of attachment of the muscles reveal how he walked, how he held his head and many other details of his life. ”

“ On the mouldering bed lay the skeleton of a woman, still tricked out in satin and lace, with a dagger sticking between the ribs. Under the bed was another skeleton, that of a man, who seemed from the twisted limbs and unnatural position to have died hard. ”

“ The skeleton has a beauty of its own, "Thou art nor modelled, glazed, or framed," says Tennyson, to his "rough sketch of man." Yet we should not like to live in a world of skeletons, however valuable a knowledge of the bones and mechanism of the joints is to students of the human form. ”

“ While engaged in excavating one of the larger mounds, we discovered the feet of a large skeleton, and carefully removing the hardened earth in which it was embedded, we succeeded in unearthing a large skeleton without injury. ”

“ A skeleton of an old man lay in an excavation in the chalk about one and a half feet deep, resting on his back, with arms crossed on the breast, and legs crossed. The skulls of two wild boars were close to the head, and on either side a chariot wheel, and the skeletons of two small horses with all their iron and bronze accoutrements.
A third tumulus, about three feet high, termed the Queen's Barrow, gives us an idea of the interment of a woman of rank. A female skeleton lay in a grave cut in the chalk about a foot deep, with head to the north, and with feet gathered up. ”

“ The skeleton answered with a still more appalling voice, 'I will never release thee from my arms, until thou promise to do what I shall command thee.' 'Tell me what it is, cried the terrified Maria, and I will perform it, be what it may.' 'Thou must go, said the skeleton, in a deep and hollow voice, into the church; thou wilt find a door in the right hand aisle, which leads to a vault ”

“ Soon after the house was begun, while the workmen were engaged on the foundations they came across the skeleton of a man, buried in the earth, and examination revealed that the skull had a hole through the forehead. ”

“ In the oldest tombs we find the skeleton laid upon its left side, with the limbs bent: the knees are on a level with the breast, and the hands are placed in front of the face. Generally the head faces towards the south, but no invariable rule seems to have been observed as to its "orientation." ”

“ The skeleton is remarkable for the massiveness and density of most of the bones, especially the skull and ribs, which add to the specific gravity of these slow-moving animals, and aid in keeping them to the bottom of the shallow waters in which they dwell, while feeding on aquatic vegetables. The skull presents many peculiarities, among which may be indicated the large size and backward position of the nasal aperture, and the downward flexure of the front of both jaws. ”

“ In the middle of the floor lay a skeleton, every vestige of flesh gone from the bones to which still clung the mildewed and mouldered remnants of what had once been clothing. Upon the bed lay a similar grewsome thing, but smaller, while in a tiny cradle nearby was a third, a wee mite of a skeleton. ”

“ Candid comparison of these five skeletons shows that they are not only very like each other generally, but are identical in the structure, arrangement, and connection of all the parts. The same 200 bones compose the skeleton in man and in the four tailless anthropoid apes, our nearest relatives. The same 300 muscles serve to move the various parts of the skeleton. The same hair covers the skin; the same mammary glands provide food for the young. ”