to the Shoulder-blade, even to the ends of the fingers. But in particular it signifies only that which is comprehended from the furthest bones of the cubit, or the beginning of the wrist, to the very fingers ends.
Therefore the Hand in general is an instrument of instruments, made for to take up and hold any thing. It is composed of three great parts, that is, of the Arm, Cubit, and Hand, vulgarly, and properly so called; but the hand taken thus in particular is again divided in three other parts, the Carpus or Brachiale, the wrist; the Metacarpium or Postbrachiale, the After-wrist; and the fingers: all these parts (seeing each of them are not only organical parts, but also parts of or∣ganical parts) are composed of all, or certainly of the most of the similar parts; that is, of both the skins, the fleshy pannicle, the fat Veins, Arteries, Nerves, Muscles, or Flesh, Coats both com∣mon and proper, Bones, Gristles, and Ligaments: all which we will describe in their order.
But first I think good to admonish you of the differences of the hand taken from the site there∣of, and these differences are six in number, the fore, the hind, the internal, the external, the upper and lower side, or part thereof.
By the fore, we mean, that part which looks directly from the Thumb to the Shoulder; by the hind, we understand the part opposite to it, which from the little finger looks towards the basis of the Shoulder-blade. By the inside, we signifie that part which lies next to the sides of the body, when the hand retains its natural site; by the out-side, the part opposite to it. The upper and lower side you may know by the very naming thereof.
The Hand, properly so called, is divided into five fingers, that so it may hold and take up bo∣dies, of all figure, as round, triangular, square, and the like, and gather up the least bodies with the Fingers ends, as Needles, Pins, and such like.
Nature hath bestowed two Hands upon us, that so they may help each other, each moving to each side. But for the taking up and holding of small bodies, it was fit, that the Fingers of their own nature soft, should be armed with nails, that consisting of soft flesh and a hard nail, they might serve for all actions; for the nail is a stay to the soft flesh, which otherwise would turn away in meeting with an hard body; the use of the Nails is to scratch, shave, and pull off the skin, to rend, pinch, and pluck asunder small bodies. They have not bony hardness, that so they might not break, but bend.
Yet other creatures have hard Nails to serve them instead of weapons. Their figure is round, because such a figure is less obnoxious to external injuries; and, by reason they are subject to wear∣ing, they grow continually.
Nature hath placed flesh on the inner and side-part of the Fingers, so to press more straitly, the things they once take hold of; so, that by holding them close together, we can hold water that it may not run out. The length of the Fingers is unequal, that when they are opened and stretched forth, they make, as it were, a circular figure; for so it comes to pass, that the hand can hold all bodies, but especially round.
It remains, that we prosecute the distribution of the Veins, Arteries, and Sinews, which run over all the parts of the Hand taken in general and particular, whereby we may more commodi∣ously hereafter handle all the proper parts thereof.