Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-04
WONDERS IN BONES.
| Some Curious Facts in Gaseous Structure
| Little Dreamed or

some Curious Facts in Gaseous Structure
Little Dreamed OF.
Exhibited in glass case at the National Mu-
scum. there is q bone human tibia-tied in q
knot. 1t has been rendered thus flexible by
soaking it in acid, which has dissolved out Of il
all its mineral parts, leaving only the animal
portion. This portion makes about one-third
of the bone, which fact might surprise some
people who suppose that their bones are almost
wholly lime.
There are funny things about bones other
than funny bones" said an PSYCHOLOGIST con-
nected with the Smithsonian Institution to q
writer for The STAR. For example, the bones
of birds are hollow and filed with warm air
from the lungs, 90 il may be said that a bird
breatbes down to its very toes and to the tips
Of its wings. In fact. if you break of the wing
Of duck the animal can actually breathe
through the broken end Of the bone though
you hold its head under water. Some Of the
gigantic reptiles Of the mesozoic epoch. which
some scientists claim to have been the ancestors
of man, had hollow bones similarly filed with
air from the lungs, for the support Of their
bodies in the water while they browsed upon
seaweeds near shore, their massive and solid
leg bones serving them as anchors, in Q depth
about sufhclent to cover their backs.
FEELING IN BONES.
ASopAo tldt tutlf DUNES
are of solid mineral construction without any
feeling in them. No one who has ever had leg
or an arm cut of is likely to indulge such mis-
taken notion. Comparatively speaking, little
pain is felt when the flesh is being cut through
but when the bone 10 attacked by the saw, oh,
N.Y.
vessels and nerves inside the bones Just as there
are outside. Any one who has purchased
beefsteak at the market knows about the mar
row in the bone. 1t is the same with other
animals than the beef. including human beings.
Through the marrow run the nerves and blood
vessels, entering the bones from the flesh with
out by little holes, which you can see for your
self any time BY examining a skeleton or part
of one. When the disease called rheumatism
which no physician understands, affects the
nerves within the bones no way has been dis
covered for treating it successfully. 1t does
not do to smile when . person says that he feels
Q thing in his bones.
NATURES HANprwoRK.
Mature adapts the bony structure Of various
animals to their habits in Q very interesting
manner. Sluggish creatures like the sloth
have solid bones, whereas the bones Of the deer
and the antelope are comparatively light so
that they may run fast, and the leg bones Of
the ostrich are hollow. You will find in the
bones Of any skeleton the application Of me-
chanical principles which have only become
known to man through the processes Of
laborious and long-considered invention. In
your own shoulder You have Q most beautiful
and perfect illustration Of the 'ball-and-socket
joint. while at your elbow there is q combine
ton Of the hinge and ball-and-socket which in
its way surpasses anything that human inven-
ton has been able to accomplish thus far. But
these are simple things compared with the
hand, the bones Of which exhibit the most per-
feet and complete apparatus, in its adaptation
to the purposes for which it is intended. that
has ever been imagined. How is il possible for
any one who has studied the structure of his
own hand to say that there il no God?"