Other sinews, devoid of specific designation, are
situated in the region of the flexures of the bones; for all the bones
that are attached to one another are bound together by sinews, and a
great quantity of sinews are placed in the neighbourhood of all the
bones. Only, by the way, in the head there is no sinew; but the head
is held together by the sutures of the bones.
Sinew is fissile lengthwise, but crosswise it is not easily
broken, but admits of a considerable amount of hard tension. In
connexion with sinews a liquid mucus is developed, white and
glutinous, and the organ, in fact, is sustained by it and appears to
be substantially composed of it. Now, vein may be submitted to the
actual cautery, but sinew, when submitted to such action, shrivels
up altogether; and, if sinews be cut asunder, the severed parts will
not again cohere. A feeling of numbness is incidental only to parts of
the frame where sinew is situated.
There is a very extensive system of sinews connected severally
with the feet, the hands, the ribs, the shoulder-blades, the neck, and
the arms.
All animals supplied with blood are furnished with sinews; but
in the case of animals that have no flexures to their limbs, but
are, in fact, destitute of either feet or hands, the sinews are fine
and inconspicuous; and so, as might have been anticipated, the
sinews in the fish are chiefly discernible in connexion with the fin.
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