The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-13
DR.. WRITINGS LECTURE.
DELIVERED AT THE UNIVERSE.
TY LAST EVENING.
"The Mechanism of the Human
Body" His Theme-Wil1 Speak
Again Next Tuesday Evening.

Interest in the university public lee
ture course still continues. A large
audience last evening heard DR.. c. A.
Writings. discourse on the "Mechan-
ism OF the Human Body" The lecture
was the first Of a series of two to be
given by DR.. Whiting. The second one
is to be delivered next Tuesday night
and is to be upon the subject How the
Body is Supported"
Regarding the mechanism of the hui
man body, the lecturer said in part:
The Justification of the skeleton is
what concerns US first tonight. The
skeleton. as is well known, begins its
development in the form of cartilage.
Carriages may be divided into two
classes. permanent and temporary. The
permanent cartilage remain cartila-
ginOus during life. while the temporary
cartilage sooner or later becomes Ossi-
fed. or bony. The permanent cartilage
consists of three -weil-marked varie-
ties; the hyoline cartilage, and the
yellow elastic cartilage. The hyoline
cartilage closely resembles and per-
haps is just the same as the temporary
cartilage. 1t consists of cells separated
from each other by q secretion from
the cell known as the matriX of the
cartilage. The white hbrouS cartilage,
as are indicated by their name are
fbrouS in character, consisting Of
threads running nearly or quite paral-
lei with each other and differing in
the fact that the white cartilage is
~inelastic, while the yellow cartilage
is highly elastic. These last two va
rieties of carriages are found round
the joints, serving as ligaments bind
ing bone to another. Not alone do
these carriages bind the bones to one
another, but, by forming pads between
the bones, they increase the pliability
of the limbs. Thus the knee joint is a
perfect sample of a hinge joint and.
so far as the bones are concerned, the
only motion permitted is a backward
and forward motion. Owing, however,
to the c~artilaginous pad between the
bones. a slight lateral motion is also
permitted.
While most of the bones of the body
begin as cartilages, some. as for in
stance. those of the skull, begin as
membranes. A membrane known
as the periosteum. which is
developed from the p%erichon-
drum membrane. envelops the csrti-
lage. The bony tissue begins not only
in the cells OF the cartilage. but also
in the perichodrium, so that the bone is
its development ossifes from the center
out as well as from the surface toward
the center.
The lecturer then spoke of the fact
that the bones are fully permeated by
blood vessels and nerves, and explained
at some length the nature Of these
blood canals and nerve tissues.
In speaking of the fatty and spongy
substance which fills the bone, the pro-
lessor told some interesting facts.
The yellow marrow" he said which
fills the tube of the bone, serves as
nutriment to the body of the bone.
while, the red marrow, which fills the
canceIlous space around the joints, is
developing place of the red cor
puscIes of the blood. The best skeletons
which PSYCHOLOGISTS can get for study
are those OF patients who have died
of droDsy, a disease during the course
OF which the yellow matter largely dis
appears from the bones. and. being
thus fed from fat, are more easily
b~leached."
The professor then spoke in detail
of the various Ways in which bones
are Joined. The lecturer had a large
number of different kinds of bones on
the platform with him, and by means
of these and with the help of black
board Illustrations dispelled many of
the erroneous ideas held by the popu-
lar mind regarding the bony mechan-
iSmS OF the human body.