these again unite to the powerful muscles by which the spine is enabled to move in any direction. The back-bone is usually a little more than one-third of the length of the body. The uppermost bone in the spine is called the atlas-it is more hollow than the others. The portion required to fill up the hollow is found attached to the second bone in the column, which is named the axis. The skull rests upon these bones, and it is confined to its proper place by a strong ligament. When the head moves to the right or left, it is not the head that moves, but the atlas, or upper vertebræ, which resolves on the pivot or the axis, the second vertebræ. Strong check ligaments are attached to the axis and to the back of the skull, to prevent the head being turned farther round than is required. There is great wisdom shown in the flexibility of the spine; and whilst there is great solidity in the several bones, their action is so easy. whole spine acts as though full of joints,—in fact each bone serves as a joint.

The

LINES ON A SKELETON.

Many years ago the Morning Chronicle published a poem entitled "Lines on a Skeleton," which excited much attention. Every effort, even to the offering of fifty guineas, was vainly made to discover the author. All that ever transpired was that the poem, in a fair clerkly hand, was found near a skeleton of remarkable beauty of form and colour, in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn, London, and that the Curator had sent them to Mr. Perry, editor and proprietor of the Morning Chronicle.

BEHOLD this ruin! 'twas a skull,
Once of ethereal spirit full.

This narrow cell was life's retreat,
This space was thought's mysterious seat.
What beauteous visions filled this spot,
What dreams of pleasure long forgot!
Nor hope, nor love, nor joy, nor fear,
Have left one trace of record here.

Beneath this mouldering canopy
Once shone the bright and busy eye,
But start not at the dismal void:
If social love that eye employed,

If with no lawless fire it gleamed,

But through the dews of kindness beamed,
That eye shall be for ever bright

When stars and suns have sunk to night.

Within this hollow cavern hung

The ready, swift, and tuneful tongue.

If falsehood honey it disdained,

And where it could not praise was chained;

If bold in virtue's cause it spoke,

Yet gentle concord never broke!

This silent tongue shall plead for thee
When time unveils eternity.

Say did these fingers delve the mine,
Or with its envied rubies shine?
To hew the rock, or wear the gem,
Can little now avail to them.
But if the page of truth they sought,
Or comfort to the mourner brought,
These hands a richer meed shall claim
Than all that wait on wealth or fame.

Avails it whether bare or shod,
These feet the paths of duty trod?
If from the bowers of ease they fled,
To seek affliction's humble shed,-
If grandeur's guilty bribe they spurned,
And home to virtue's cot returned,
These feet with angels wings shall vie,
And tread the palace of the sky.

ANONYMOUS.

CHAPTER II.

The Cranium, or Skull—The Chest and the Pelvis.

THE most prominent part of the body is the head. This should have occupied the first place in our description of man. The head is to the body what the fortress is to the city, the refuge, the place of safety for the most valued treasures. Here the brain, the eye, the ear, the sense of taste and smell, are located and protected as in a citadel.

The bones of the head are twenty-two in number. Of these, eight form the cranium, and fourteen the face. In shape it has been compared to an egg in an horizontal position. Many circumstances arise to vary both the shape and size of the head. The head of a man is usually larger than that of a woman; and the skulls of savages are thicker and harder than those of civilized nations. Of the facial bones, nine are small and delicately formed; these are placed internally. The other eight are larger and stronger, and are external. Nine of the smaller

ones are required to form the nose and the palate; the other five form the cheeks and the jaw bones.

Of the eight larger bones, the first, called the occipital, forms the hinder part of the head, and connects it with the atlas of the vertebræ; and through an opening in that bone, the spinal cord