The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-01-10

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|0I4IlR means the string of NOV
IHSNEg able vertebr@ following
eANy each other in orderly
procession along the spinal cord.
"A back also means portion of
the human and animal anatomy
that is so flexible it can easily be
bent to and fro, and to either side.
So it is that most people are dis
tinctly surprised when they first
learn that among birds and fowls
the entire backbone is not only
immovable, but in most of the
winged creatures it is formed of
one piece.
The Turkey has only two sturdy
legs to uphold his body, instead of
the four that quadrupeds possess.
He also walks with his plump body
horizontal to the earth, instead of
being perpendicular, as is the po-
sition of the human form, which
| is easily propell led by single pair
of feet. So it comes about that to
enable this handsome fowl to main
tain the proper equilibrium when
walking, and that he may at the
same time hold up his head with
stately grace at one end of him,
and spread his tail into a fan at the
other, Mr.. Turkeys backbone mas
been beautiful manufactured in one
piece! He also needs protection
across his broad body, so that the
delicate machinery inside of him
may suffer no injury when he is
having adventures out in the
world; so the very useful back he
wears extends entirely across his
hips, giving him a genuine suit of
inside armor.
Both the tame and the wild tur:
keys fly we'll, and possess large,
powerful wings that are capable of
long and high fight, unless the
fowl has become too heavy from
fat for them to bear it up. To en-
able these wings to do their duty
properly the turkeys back needs
to be perfectly rigid, that it may
bear the heavy strain that the great
flying muscles" place upon it.;
hence it is that the vertabl a of
the central section of the spine is
firmly fastened together
The turkeys immovable back
would be very great inconven-
ience to him but for the fact that
he never needs to bend it in any of
lthe important business transactions
THAT he carries on. Nature always
fits her creatures perfectly for the
position they are to occupy in the
world, and in no instance is this
fact more clearly shown than in
the birds or fowls back. Nam
mails, with their wonderfully flexi-
BILE spines, have seven delicately
adjusted, movable vertebra in their
necks; birds and fowls, that have
to pick up their food from the
ground, without the help of either
hands or paws, possess nine, and
to the swan, whose dinner often
lies at the bottom of a lake or pond,
has been given twenty y-six.
One reason man cannot fly is that
he possesses a movable backbone.
Stretched forth in the right posi-
tion for flying, the terrific effort
he would have to put forth to
keep his body rigid would SO ex-
haust him that even if he possessed
the wings and huge lungs of a bird,
he would soon fall exhausted to
the earth. Not only would this
happen, but the delicate vertebre
of his spine would be dislocated by
the pulling of the flying muscles
with which the back and breast of
a bird or fowl is packed.
With the proper backbone,
wings, and lungs, man would still
have terrible time trying to fly
because his bones are formed for
travelling on the earth, instead of
through the air. Man and most