A sure guide, or, The best and nearest way to physick and chyrurgery that is to say, the arts of healing by medicine and manual operation : being an anatomical description of the whol body of man and its parts : with their respective diseases demonstrated from the fabrick and vse of the said parts : in six books ... at the end of the six books, are added twenty four tables, cut in brass, containing one hundred eighty four figures, with an explanation of them : which are referred to in above a thousand places in the books for the help of young artists / written in Latine by Johannes Riolanus ...; Englished by Nich. Culpeper ... and W.R. ...

Chap. 26. The History of an Infants Bones, till the Age of seven years.

SEeing the Bones of Infants, from their Birth til seven years of Age, differ much from the Bones of such as are grown up, both in number, and figure, and

especially in the Multitude of Epiphyses, and desectof Apophyses, therefore I thought it wel worth the while, to ad the Bones of Infants, to the Bones of men grown up, that the difference between them may apear more evidently, for this comparison makes much to take away the differences amongst Anatomists; and to unty the difficult knots, you shal find in Galens Doctrine of the Bones.

That this Osteology, was known to Galen, is manifest by various places in him; in which he declares the Bones of Infants, in his Book of the formation of the Child in the Womb, he describes the Head of the Infant, In the first book De semine, he treats of the Teeth of Infants, but before Galen, Hippocrates, was a diligent studier and observer of this Osteology; as his divine monuments of the Nature of Children, and of their breeding Teeth witness.

And the profit of this Doctrine is very great: not only in the education of Chil∣dren, which are marred, by the unskilfulness either of the Midwife, or Nurse. We see diverse Children at this day Borne, with great Heads, Bunches, Bow-Legs, great Ancles, Vnseemly knees, and at last are Lame when they begin to go, which deformities in the beginning of their Age, whilst their Bones are soft, may be amended, and how can a man amend them rightly, unless he know the Bones at that time exactly?

Excellently said Galen, in Lib. de causis Morborum Chap. 7. When he de∣scribeth the deformities of Bones, which are in Children. The Natural figure, (saith he) of the members, and of the whol Body, is changed either in the Womb, or at the Birth, or after the Birth; It is depraved in the Womb when the formati∣on is vitiated, by reason of abounding, or unfit matter, It is depraved in the Birth, when the Midwife takes it not righly, or binds it not up rightly, being born, after the birth the Nurse, in taking of it up laying it down, or carrying of it, or washing of it, or binding it up; in al these the Nature of every member is easily turned out of its course, and corrupted. These also happen in unfit Motions, whilst it is set to stand or walk, before its time, or exposed to vehement Motions. For unsea∣sonable, and vehement motions weaken the Limbs, and the Legs, are turned in∣wards or outwards by the waight of the Body; and those Limbs which should be straight are made crooked, the Parts of the breast are usually inverted by Nurses, by binding them too bard, in their first education; this we see almost continually in Virgins, whilst Nurses study to encrease those parts, which are about the Hips and Bowels that, they may exceed the bigness of the Breast, they bind the Parts about the Breast so vehement heard, that the breast becomes sharp, and they look as though they were broken backt; and somtimes are crook Shouldred.

You see by Galen, what miseries and deformities little Children are subject too; by reason of ill forming the Bones, which may be corrected whilst they are Young, and Flexible, and brought into what form you will.

Hippocrates Lib. de Septimestri Partu, gives the reason, why Children are Born Blind, Lame, or other wile ill formed▪ The Women that go with such Children are ill, or like to miscarry, in the eight month, for the maimed Embrion was greavous Sick, in the eight month; and the Disease, Caused, Impostumation, as it doth in men, but when the Embrion is main sick, at any other time it rather dies then suffers Apostumation: Hitherto Hippocrates, and Aristotle writes Sect. 10. Probl. 40. That Children may be hurt in the Womb, because their Legs are so tender.

The greather Bones of Infants are hollow, and the Marrow Bloody. After six Months, the Marrow waxeth white, they have a Periostion, and a Cartilage at the ends, the extremities of the Bones, are Epiphyses, some few Apophyses they have, but a great number of Epiphyses, that according to Ingrassias they amount to, three hundred twenty one. But I think tis no such matter, neither indeed, have I yet been very sollicitus about, the counting of the number.

I never observed any Bone, of any bignes or length; which ended not in an Epiphyses; now al the Epiphyses of Infants are Cartilaginous, and grow hard and are turned into Bones by degrees: Their hardness begins not at the Bone, to which

they are joyned, but they take their bony substance first at the Centre beginning at the internal part and encreasing by degrees to the external. Or from the Centre to the circumference, outwardly they grow dry and hard by heat which is stirred up by Motion and rubbing the Joynts one against another in walking.

Notes

• Is Ancient.
• And profitable.
• The Marrow of the Bones Bloody.
• Their Epiphy∣ses. How they wax hard.