Bone

[A.S. ban; Ger. bein, a bone, the leg, the shankbone; Frisian bon, ban; Du. and Dan. been; Swed. ben; allied to Gr. baino, to go, as the legs are the natural instruments of going.] ( Anat.) A firm, hard substance, composing the skeleton or framework of an animal body. (See below, Anat.) "A people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood."- Burke . -A piece of such substance; an integral portion of the skeleton; as, the thigh-bone. "An old man, broken with the storms of state, Is come to lay his weary bones among ye."- Shaks . -Something made of bone, as dice, tooth-picks, . -pl. (Mus.) Castanets; as, to play the bones . (Gaming.) Dice; as, to rattle the bones, i. e. throw the "And watch the box for fear they should convey dice. False bones , and put upon me in the play."-Dryden. -A bone with a fragment of flesh adhering to it; as, a devilled bone. "Like Æsop's hounds contending for the bone, Each pleaded right, and would be lord alone."-Dryden. A bone of contention . Object of contention or wrangling. To make no bones . To make no scruple about anything; to offer no reluctance or difficulty. (Used vulgarly.) A bone to pick . Something puzzling, or causing diversion. To be upon the bones. To attack. "Pu had a month's mind to be upon the bones of him, but was not willing to pick a quarrel."-L'Estrange. ( Anat .) A hard complex structure, forming the framework or skeleton of the body in man, and the higher orders of animals. It is confined to vertebrate animals; and even in the lowest order of this cla , the cartilaginous fishes, it is entirely wanting. The B. form a framework for the moulding and adequate support of the soft parts of the body; cavities for the lodgment and protection of delicate organs; joints for locomotion, and levers for the action of the muscles. The first development of B. is commonly-though not always, as in the bones of the head - preceded by the formation of a cartilaginous structure, occupying the place which the B. is afterwards to take. It has commonly been said that the B. is formed by the o ification of the cartilage; but this, for various reasons, is thought not to be the case. The proce of B. -formation always commences in the immediate neighborhood of blood-ve els, which pa down into canals excavated in the substance of the cartilage, and is lined by a continuation of its investing membrane. Hence, the spots where these vascular canals are especially developed are termed centres of o i fication . Until the B. attains its full dimensions, the parts which contain distinct centres are not connected by o eous union, but only by cartilage, so as to allow an increase in the size of the B. by the growth of cartilage between its detached portions, which gives place to bony structure when there is no further need of increase. There exists a close correspondence between the number of o ific centres in the early condition of the skeleton of all vertebrate animals. The perfect reparation of bone after severe injuries, ef fected by the development of new o eous ti ue in the substance of membrane or cartilage formed in the seat of injury, is one of the most remarkable features of its character. B. are so constituted that a constant proce of deposition and absorption is carried on in them, as in the softer ti ues, modelling the shaft into its re quisite proportions during the succe ive stages of growth. It is much more actively carried on in youth than in middle life, and is greater in the vigor of manhood than in old age. B. are largely supplied with blood-ve els. The solid o eous texture, which forms the cylindrical shafts of the long B. and the thick external plates of the denser flat bones, is penetrated by a series of large canals, termed Havers i an (after their discoverer), which form a network in its interior, and serve for the transmi ion of blood ve els into the interior. These IMG:content-0688.png:[graphic] canals, in the long B., run for the most part in a direction Fig . 384. -TRANSVERSE SECTION OF BONL parallel to the (Showing its microscopic structure.) central cavity, and communicate with this, with the external surface, and with each other, by frequent transverse branches In the long B. of man and of most mammal i a there is a central cavity, which is filled with the fatty substance known as marrow ; and the space in which the marrow lies is called the medullary canal . This cavity does not exist in the B. in its early state, but is formed by the removal of the cancellated o eous ti ue first developed in its interior. Among birds, however, the central cavity, instead of being occupied by marrow, is filled with air, and communicates with the lungs; so that the membrane lining it becomes an auxiliary organ of respiration; while the lightening of the bones thus produced diminishes their specific gravity. B. are covered externally by a strong fibrous membrane termed the perios teum, which serves to protect the blood-ve els entering them. The medullary canal is also lined by an extremely delicate membrane, termed the medullary membrane, which supports the marrow, and provides a stratum for the subdivisions of the medullary artery before they penetrate the contiguous o eous substance. Though B. po e little sensibility in health, yet, when diseased, they become highly sensitive, a manifest indication that they are supplied with nerves. These may, indeed, be traced into some of the minute foramina on the shaft of a long bone, but more easily into the articular ends. A nerve also enters the medullary canal with the nutrient artery of the medulla, and divides, like the artery, into an ascending and a descending branch. B. is composed of a basis of animal matter, impregnated with "bone-earth," or phosphate of lime. The first ingre dient makes it tenacious and elastic; the second gives it the requisite hardne . These may be separated from each other: the latter may be entirely di olved away, by soaking the bone in dilute nitric acid, when a substance of cartilaginous appearance is left; the former, by subjecting the B. to a heat sufficient to decompose the animal matter, when we obtain the whole calcareous substance in situ . The animal portion of a bone forms about one-third, the earthy about two-thirds; and the relative proportion of the two elements is said to differ little in different cla es of animals. It is not yet a settled point whether the proportions vary at different periods of life; but the general opinion is that they do, the animal element predominating in early life, the earthy in old age. B. , when dried at 2120 until they cease to lose weight, consist of one-third o ein , or organic matter, and two-thirds of phosphate and carbonate of lime and phosphate of magnesia. O ein, when boiled in water, gradually di olves, leaving a small quantity of fatty and vascular matter floating on the solution, which, on cooling, gelatinizes, forming a weak glue or size, consisting of nearly pure gelatine. The earthy matter may be separated from the o ein, either by means of an acid, or else by boiling in water in a Papin's digester, at a temperature over 300°, the gelatine being only di olved at that heat. The mineral constituents of B. are used as manure, and in the manufacture of cupels. When B. are distilled in close ve els, at a gradually increasing temperature, oily matters, mixed with carbonate of ammonia, pa over, leaving behind bone black , or animal charcoal. The analysis of the human fore-arm, by Henitz. has given: Animal matter 31-11, Phosphate of lime 59-14, Carbonate of lime 6-32, Phosphate of magnesia 1-20, Fluoride of calcium 2-23 100. The great value of ground bones as manure depends upon the quantity of phosphate of lime contained in them; hence, battle-fields are notably fertile. Ground bones are now generally prepared for manure by adding a certain portion of sulphuric acid to them, by which means a superphosphate of lime is formed, which is soluble and easily absorbed by the plants to which it is applied. See SKELETON. ( Manf . ) B. are used by turners and cutlers, but their oil must be previously extracted by boiling, and they are afterwards bleached in the sun or with chloride of lime. This, unfortunately, renders them more brittle and le easy to turn. The form and nature of most B. , with their large cavities for marrow, are also unfavorable to their being worked into common articles of domestic use, such as knife-handles, brushes, . The buttock and shin-bones of the ox and calf are the B. most generally used. Common B. articles, such as nail and toothbrushes, are often polished with slaked lime used wet on flannel or woollen cloth. B. are also used for making animal charcoal; and, when calcined, bone-ash. The scrapings, parings, and sawdust of B. are much used in making gelatine for the confectioner, and also in case hardening small objects in steel. A very good liquid manure is made by digesting burnt B. in weak sulphuric acid. This affords a direct solution, containing superphosphate and sulphate of lime, which is useful for gra lands or fields of rising corn. If pearl-ash is added to this acid solution, and the mixture dried up by adding powdered charcoal or mould, an excellent topdre ing manure is formed. In the Pampas of S. America B. are used as fuel; and in Norway and Sweden, in times of scarcity, fish- B . are browned in a gridiron till they are friable, and, with salt and pepper, form palatable food. ( Med .) B. are subject to diseases like the softer parts of the body; more particularly to inflammation, ulceration, caries, exfoliation, and death, or NECROSIS, q. v. Bone, v. a. ( Cookery .) To take out bones from the flesh; as, to bone a turkey. -To fit stays with whalebone. Bône, a town of Algeria. See BONA. Bone'-ace, n. [ bone and ace.] (Games.) A game at cards, in which he who has the highest trump turned up to him, wins the bone , i. e., one-half the stake. Bone-ache, ( bon'āk ,) n. Ache, or pain in the bones. Bone-ash, or BONE-EARTH, n. See ASHES.