66 "History of Lord Clayton and Miss Meredith," 2 vols., 6s. "Memoirs of Francis Dillon," 2 vols., 6s. "Memoirs of George Tudor," 2 vols., 6s. Other titles are short and telling, e.g. Generous Sister," 2 vols., 6s.; "Happy Orphans," 2 vols., 6s.; "Harriet Melvin," 3s.; "Maiden Aunt," 3 vols., 9s.; Reciprocal Love," 3s.; "Scotchman, or the World as it Goes," 3 vols., 9s.; "Sylph," 2 vols., 6s.; "Wife, by Mira," 2s. 6d. ; Wedding-ring," 3 vols., 9s. As examples of out-of-the-way names we observe "female soldier; or the surprising life and adventures of Hannah Snell, who in the time of the Rebellion, 1745, having put on man's apparel, enlisted as a soldier, in which capacity she went to the East Indies with Admiral Boscawen, where she met with many strange vicissitudes of fortune," 3s. 6d. "Life of Mrs. Charlotte Chark, daughter of Colly Cibber; containing, An account of her success upon the stage-her adventures in man's cloaths-her commencing strolling player -with various and surprising vicissitudes of fortune during nine years' peregrination," 3s. "Memoirs of Parnese, a Spanish lady of vast fortune, containing a true account of the hardships she suffered in man's apparel for eight years in different countries, in the prosecution of a virtuous amour, translated from the Spanish," 3s. "Travels and adventures of Madam de Richlieu, who made the tour of Europe dressed in mens cloaths, attended by her maid Lucy, as her valet de chambre," 3 vols., 10s. 6d. Sir Walter Scott, as a reader in this library, must have had great pleasure in perusing the literary treasures, of which we have given some account, and it is not unlikely that the author of “Waverley" derived from thence a taste for the romantic and adventurous which he afterwards turned to such good account. THE OCCURRENCE OF SUPERNUMERARY RIBS IN MAN. By G. W. NIVEN (Honorary Secretary, Greenock Natural History Society). A "Give me ribs."-Troilus and Cressida, Act I., Sc. 3. CCORDING to the belief formerly current, every bone, muscle, organ, or tissue present in an animal was there to serve some essential and definite purpose, and could not be dispensed with. Exception to this generalisation had to be acknowledged, but it was expected that with increased knowledge a satisfactory explanation would be ultimately forthcoming. Meantime, some of the more striking and abnormal anatomical aberrations were conveniently named lusus naturæ, and afforded an interesting subject for gossip to the old-fashioned natural history chronicler, who described these "freaks of nature" for the special delectation of an individual who was usually not inappropriately styled "the curious reader." To the serious scientific investigator, however, they possessed comparatively little interest and less value until the advent of evolution, when an entirely different complexion was given to the phenomena. Leaving pathological features out of account, we may refer to the presence in man of such redundancies as the vermiform appendix, the third eyelid, the pineal gland and others which are always present; and supernumerary ribs and vertebræ, cervical auricles (ears in the neck), etc., that only occasionally put in an appearance. To these structures the name of lusus naturæ is no longer given; so far from showing Nature in a weak moment perpetrating errors, the phenomena is now believed to exhibit the extraordinary persistence that prevails in the transmission of structures at one time of great importance, although not now of any use. These organs or structures are now known as vestigial relicts. During the course of many generations, while the body was becoming adapted to changed conditions, certain parts were subjected to reduction or degeneration, and now are only to be seen as vestiges of a former useful and essential existence. From this point of view the subject presents material for investigation of fascinating interest. Its importance also cannot be exaggerated, for in tracing the vestiges carefully we are enabled to unravel to some extent man's genealogy during the remote geological past, and to determine to which of his fellow animals he is more closely related. There are numerous vestigial structures still surviving in man, but it will be sufficient to confine ourselves to one that has not received so much attention either popular or professional as some others, namely, the occurrence of supernumerary ribs in man. The human skeleton has normally twelve ribs on each side attached to the corresponding dorsal vertebræ. The first seven on either side are true ribs springing from the vertebræ and attached in front to the sternum or breast bone. The other five are false ribs, the first three coalescing together and with the seventh rib before becoming attached to the sternum. The two lower false ribs are also termed floating ribs and are not attached to the sternum in front. In size, the ribs increase in length from the first to the eighth and then diminish. The number of ribs in mammals varies from nine to twentyfour pairs. That there is a tendency towards a gradual diminution in the number of ribs in man might be suspected from the imperfect development of the not inappropriately designated false ribs; and the corollary to this, that man or his ancestors formerly possessed a greater number of ribs than at present, is further indicated by the occasional presence of supernumerary ribs. These ribs may be cervical, occurring in the neck, where none are normally present; sternal, one or two ribs more than the normal seven being attached to the sternum; or lumbar, being supernumerary floating ribs. In his valuable work on "The Structure of Man," Dr. Wiedersheim gives an illustration of cervical ribs that were present in the skeleton of an adult female. The twelve normal ribs were present, but in addition the seventh or lowest vertebræ of the neck bore a short rib on either side. The length of the right rib was 35 c.m. and of the left, 67 c.m. During life the ends of these ribs were connected with the top of the sternum by a ligamentous band. Not infrequently the cervical rib, when present, unites with the first thoracic rib by means of its cartilaginous extremity. Only one case has been recorded in which the rib extended uninterruptedly round the neck. It is a curious fact that the internal and external intercostal muscles, between the cervical ribs and the first thoracic rib, are usually well developed, even in cases where the connecting fibrous band is wanting. The vertebral end of the rib is of various forms, and the other end may be loosely attached to the thoracic rib, articulated with, or altogether fused with it. Instances are known not infrequently of degeneracy or atrophy of the first thoracic rib. Dr. Wiedersheim quotes a case from Leboucq of an adult male who had twelve pairs of ribs, but the first pair was reduced in length, one rib to nine and the other to eight centimetres. Each was connected with the sternum. There is further evidence that man's ancestors possessed more than twelve pairs of ribs in the fact that rudimentary ribs are found in the embryo in connection with all the lumbar vertebræ. The rudiments of free ribs connected with the seventh and sixth cervical vertebræ are almost always present in the embryo (Wiedersheim). This would indicate some relationship with animals having cervical ribs as a normal condition. The literature of this subject is not very extensive. Galen in the second century B.C. was probably the earliest to notice the occurrence of supernumerary ribs. They were also observed by Fallopius, the famous Italian anatomist of the sixteenth century. Sir Thomas Browne has some quaint remarks on the subject in his "Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Treatise on Vulgar Errors," published in 1646. "That a man hath one rib less than a woman," wrote the learned author, " is a common conceit, whence it is concluded the sex of the man still wants a rib that our father lost in Eve, and this is not only passant with the many, but was urged against Columbus,1 in an anatomy of his at Pisa, where, 1 Rualdo Columbus, anatomist, died 1577. 1 having prepared the skeleton of a woman that chanced to have thirteen ribs on one side, there arose a party that cried him down, and even unto oaths affirmed this was the rib wherein the woman exceeded. Were this true it would ocularly silence that dispute out of which side Eve was framed; it would determine the opinion of Oleaster, that she was made cut of the ribs of both sides, or such as, from the expression of the text, maintain there was a plurality of ribs required, and it might indeed decry the parabolical expression of Origen,2 Cajetan,3 and such as, fearing to concede a monstrosity or mutilate the integrity of Adam, preventively conceive the creation of thirteen ribs." - That the rib from which Eve was made had been previously lent, as it were, to Adam, was one of the many theories emanating from the fertile brains of the Jewish Rabbis. Possibly the fact of the speculation may be taken as an indication that the occurrence of supernumerary ribs had been noticed by the Jews. In his Targum or commentary on the text, the Rabbi Jonathan 'says:- "Eve was made from the thirteen rib of the right side. . . . She was not drawn out by the head lest she should be vain; nor by the eyes, lest she should be wanton; nor from the mouth, lest she should be given to garrulity; nor by the ears, lest she be an eavesdropper; nor by the hands, lest she should be intermeddling; nor by the feet, lest she be a gadder; nor by the heart, for fear she should be jealous; but she was taken out from the side. Yet, in spite of all these precautions she had all the faults so carefully provided against." In 1740, the subject was written upon in France by M. Hunauld who contributed a paper to the Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences. Professor Gruber collected the data of all known cases from 1740 to 1809 and found seventy-six examples of cervical ribs occurring in forty-five individuals. A few cases have been recorded since but at considerable intervals. In 1830, Dr. Dymock in the course of a dissection unexpectedly discovered cervical ribs in the subject. A drawing 1 Jerome Oleaster, Portuguese Biblical commentator, died 1563. 3 Cardinal Cajetan, died 1534. |