MAY, 1946
1 203
of your arm and hand, the same bone is always on the thumb side, at'your wrist; it is called the radius, and its inner companion'is the ulna. If you look at a hand hanging downward, you will notice that the arm is not straight, but has a definite crook at the elbow joint. This crook is called the carrying angle. After a monent’s thought, one will understand why the- Creator planned this. One who carries a weight upon his hand may let the elbow rest against the side, but, because of this angle, the weight will hang clear of the thigh. Maintenance of this valuable carrying angle is one reason why there is no side motion at the elbow joint; it bends only forward and backward. Such a joint is called a hinge joint. Here is a strange device which must have been de signed by the Lord; In turning your hand from palm up wards to back upwards, or vice versa, one of your forearm bones must rotate around the other. This necessary rota tion would be impossible if both bones made a hinge joint with the lower end of the humerus. So, only the inner bone, the ulna, does this, the joint being very firm and strong. The wrist and hand are joined to the radius in such a way that they turn with it, as it rotates in its ring of cartilage. In the wrist there are eight small bones, arranged in two rows of four each. They are all securely bound to each other by ligaments, but a small amount of gliding motion is possible wherever one bone touches another. The outer bone of the forearm, the radius, makes a joint with three of the upper row of four bones. This joint not only allows free bending forward and backward, but considerable motion from side to side, thus greatly increasing the flexibility of the wrist. The five bones of the palm form joints with the lower row of the wrist bones, but none of these joints permit much motion, except in the case of the bone correspond ing to the thumb. Each of the fingers has three bones and the thumb, two. All of these joints are of the simple hinge type. There are twenty small muscles in the hand. Their work is to separate the fingers, to draw them together after they are separated, to help bend the thumb and fingers, and to bring the thumb in contact with any of the fingers. These muscles weigh only one or two ounces, and it is clear that all the strength residing in the hand cannot be due to these tiny muscles. Most of the power for the movements of the wrist and bending of the fin gers comes from muscles that make up the fleshy part of your forearm. The force is applied by means of long tendons that pass from the forearm to various parts of the wrist, thumb, and fingers. Thus the motions in the wrists and hands are much like those of the puppets, due to strings pulled from a distance. The great value of such an arrangement is clearly evident. Evidence of design is seen everywhere. If the strength of the hand had to come from its own muscles, it would have to be several times larger than it is; it would be a heavy and clumsy appendage, which would be unable to do a fraction of what is possible to the hand with which we are equipped. The human hand is the most useful mechanism in the whole animal creation—a wonderful combination of strength, lightness, and dexterity. It is hardly possible to overestimate the value of the hands. There is haTdly an activity in life, from morning until. night, in which the hands do not have a part. In most occupations, they .are indispensable. Many great artists and musicians depend so much on their hands that they insure them for thousands of dollars.
I I i I
THE MOTHER’S PRAYER
Lord, give me this soul!
■
I j I
I have waked for it when I should have slept, I have yearned over it, and I have wept, Till in my heart the thought of it held sway
i f j f
j
All through the night and day.
J
■
Lord, give me this soul! If I might only lift its broken strands, To lay them gently in Thy loving hands— If I might know it had found peace in Thee, What rest, what peace to me! Thou wilt give me this soul! Else why the joy, the grief, the doubt, the pain, The thought perpetual, the one refraia, The ceaseless longing that upon Thy breast The tempest-tossed may rest?
i 1
-j
I j ? I i |
j
Dear Lord, give me this soul!
I j
J
——Autnor Unknown.
still the theme is not exhausted. We are concerned with simply mentioning a few of the features which set us apart from all other living creatures. How quickly the fingers can be operated, striking the typewriter keys; sweeping the keyboard of piano or organ with incredible speed and accuracy; touching lightly the violin strings as the bow is drawn across them, or drawing from the harp such music as is heard in Heaven. With the hand, the brush of the artist is given that swift sure stroke which transfers his perish able dream to the permanent canvas. With his hands, the sculptor holds mallet and chisel, carving beauty out of the solid marble. The hands are eyes to the blind, and voice to the dumb. It was no accident that our Heavenly Father used the figure of arms and hands in His precious assurances which bring peace and comfort to harassed and anxious hearts. “The eternal God is thy refuge, -and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27); “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands” (Isa. 49:16). When the Apostle John saw his resurrected Lord, he was overcome with His glory. How beautifully he des cribes the tenderness of Jesus: “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength . . . And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead) and behold, I am alive for evermore” (Rev. 1:16-18 R. V.). The day approaches with hasty steps when we too shall see the King in His beauty, that is, if we belong to Him, and are His children through faith in the Son of God, who shelters us beneath the crimson stream which flows from Calvary. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “ No man is able to pluck them out o f my hand” (John
Made with FlippingBook Annual report