Posts tagged hand
Top: Hand of a day-laborer who had been drowned 24 hours prior
Bottom: Hand of a drowned person submerged in running water for several weeks
The process of tissues decomposing and sloughing off in animals generally reaches its peak around three to four weeks, in a moderate climate. However, in running water, the washing away of the acids from the liquefied fats and proteins, and the lack of insect activity, can often significantly retard or alter the decomposition.
Because of this, it can often take several extra weeks for tissues submerged in running water to separate from the body, and when they do separate, they don’t so much slough off when their substrate is consumed, but “slip” off, often in large sheets. The dermis of the hand is well-connected to itself, but less well-connected to its substrate, and as such is often subject to a phenomenon called “gloving” - where the skin slips off in, you guessed it, a “glove”.
Atlas of Legal Medicine. Dr. Eduard von Hofmann, 1898.
Fascia of the Palm
Below the dermis of the palm, there is a significant and tougher-than-average layer of fascia (connective tissue) that serves primarily as a protector to the underlying muscles. Despite the keratinized layer of epidermis on the palms, additional reinforcement is needed for general protection of the muscles in the area. On the back of the hands, the fascia is still significant, but not as tough as the palm.
Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical. Henry Gray, 1858.
Avulson of Tendon with Terminal Phalanx of Thumb.
This case involved a man whose thumb was caught in the reins of a runaway horse, which separated the terminal phalanx (last bone) of the thumb, and with it, the deep flexor tendon involved in the movement of that digit.
While the injuries were non-life-threatening, movement of the thumb was unable to be restored.
Manual of Surgery. Alexis Thomson, 1904.
Keloid der Finger
This hand has both keloids and hypertrophic scars which formed after a limited injury to one side of the hand. Movement was painful but not restricted during initial healing process, but became increasingly difficult as time went on.
Die Chiurgischen Krankheiten der Oberen Extremitaten. Paul Vogt, 1881.
Anatomy of the hand - Clorion (1830)
Development of the bones of the hand, infancy to eight years of age
Click through for detail and age information.
Skiagraphic Atlas Showing the Development of the Bones of the Wrist and Hand, for the use of students and others. John Poland, 1898.
Gymnasium for strengthening extension and flexion of arms and hands.
Note that the pelvis is strapped in, so that poor spinal form is not practiced or developed during correction of arm form.
Orthopraxy: the Mechanical Treatment of Deformities, Debilities, and Deficiencies of the Human Frame. Henry Heather Bigg, 1877.
Late 16th century artificial arm and hand for the well-to-do man designed by Pare.
Orthopraxy: the Mechanical Treatment of Deformities, Debilities, and Deficiencies of the Human Frame. Henry Heather Bigg, 1877.
Comparative anatomy of feet and hands.
The Comparative Anatomy of the Domesticated Animals. A. Chauveau, 1873.
Tendons and muscles of the wrist and arm in flexion and extension.
Layers of the human hand.
Principles of Anatomy, as Shown in the Hand. Frederic James Wood, 1920.
Dissection of the human hand.
Applied Surgical Anatomy, Regional Anatomy. George Woosley, 1909.
Comparative anatomy of the predator and its prey.
The Hand; its Mechanism and Vital Endowments, as Evincing Design. Sir Charles Bell, 1854.
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