An Extract of a Letter from Bernard Connor, M. D. to Sir Charles Walgrave, Published in French at Paris: Giving an Account of an Extraordinary Humane Sceleton, Whose Vertebrae of the Back, the Ribs, and Several Bones Down to the Os Sacrum, Were All Firmly United into One Solid Bone,without Joynting or Cartilage

IV. An Extract of a Letter from Bernard Connor, M.D. to Sir Charles Walgrave, Published in French at Paris: Giving an Account of an Extraordinary Humane Skeleton, whose Vertebrae of the Back, the Ribs, and several Bones down to the Os Sacrum, were all firmly united into one solid Bone, without Joyning or Cartilage. SIR, Having lately seen part of an Human Skeleton, all the Bones whereof were so united as to make but one continued Bone without Articulation, I thought it might be acceptable to the Curious to be presented with some Account thereof. This was not an entire Skeleton, consisting only of the Os Ilium, the Os Sacrum, the five Vertebrae of the Loins, ten of the Back, five entire Ribs on the right side, and three on the left; the bottoms or ends of the other were closely united to the transverse Apophyses of their Vertebrae. The Vertebrae of the Neck, the Clavicle and Sternum were wanting. All these Bones, which Naturally are 38, each separate and distinct from another, were here so straightly and intimately joyned, their Ligaments perfectly Bony, and their Articulations so effaced, that they really made but one uniform continuous Bone; so that it was as easie to break one of the Vertebrae into two, as to disjoyn or separate it from the other Vertebrae, or the Ribs, or the Os Sacrum from those of the Ilia. Nor could I observe any greater distinction between all these Bones than is usually seen in Adult Persons between the Os Pubis, the Ischion, and Ilium, which are but one entire Bony Substance. The Roots of all the Ribs made but one equal, smooth, and plain Superficies with the Vertebrae and their Apophyses. The Oblique Apophyses of all the Vertebrae were so confounded and lost, that it was not possible to observe any marks of them. The Cartilaginous edge of the Vertebrae themselves was turned to perfect Bone. In short, they were as entire as a Skeleton cut out of the same Piece of Wood by a Carver would be. Being willing to see if these Vertebrae were united throughout their whole Diameter, or at the edges only, I sawed two of them asunder at the Commissure, and found this uniting did not enter above two Lines deep, and that afterwards their middles were separated as they usually are, and touched each other only at the edges, which was raised up a little above the middle part. On the left side at half a fingers breadth from the Vertebrae, two Ribs were joined together for the space of an Inch, and afterward run separated and parallel like the rest, to the Sternum. The Figure of this Trunk was crooked, making part of a Circle, the Spine making the Convex, and the inside of the Vertebrae the Concave part of this Segment. If the other Vertebrae of the Back and Neck had been preserved, and had bent in the same Curve, they would have made near the half of a Circle. The direction of the Ribs was unnatural, for instead of terminating at the Sternum in Parallel Semicircles nearly Horizontal, their Extremities where they reached the Sternum, dipp'd so much down toward the Hypogastrum, as to touch the sides of the Osse Ilium. This Trunk had been found in some Church-yard or Charnel-House, as appeared by its dark red Colour and dryness, and seemed to be of a grown Person, the Bones being of a Proportion and Thickness equal to those of Old Men. The Vertebrae of the Loins were larger than those those of the Back, as they Naturally are; there was no unnatural bunching out, their joyning together very regular, no one Vertebra standing out beyond the other, either before, behind, or on the sides. The Cavity for the Spinal Marrow had no fault but its bending Figure. The Bones of the Os Pubis were separated as usually. The Socket or Cavity of the last Bastard Rib on the right side being smooth and polish'd, seemed as if that Rib had not been so firmly united as the rest. In the extremity of the Ribs next the Sternum, the usual Cavities for the Cartilages to move in, were observable, which as it seems by this were not Bony, nor continuous with the Ribs. It was a surprising sight to see the sport of Nature in the Fabrick and hardening of these Bones, which Naturally move upon one another, are separated by Cartilages, and held together only by Cords and Ligaments, and chiefly that the Ribs should be thus joyned with the rest, which are perpetually raised in Respiration, and whose Motion is upon the Vertebrae as its Centre; and we see motion hinders the lips of a Wound from closing, and a broken Bone from uniting. Fontanus reports it as a very strange thing, that he once happened to see three Ribs joyned together. And Pausanias makes mention of one Protophanes, in whose dead Body all the true Ribs were found to be united: But it is much more extraordinary to find all the Ribs and Vertebrae but one continued Bone, than to find the Ribs joyned, for they may be said to move all alike, and still parallel to each other; so that they being always kept at the same distance, need but increase and grow broader to meet and unite. Thus far I have endeavoured to give our Author's sense almost Verbatim, it being mostly matter of Observation, but the remainder of the Letter being only deductions and Reasonings thereon, I shall only give a short extract thereof. It is hard to give a Mechanical Reason of this so secret and hidden a matter; though it is really as certain it must depend upon some Physical Cause; and to offer at some reasonable Conjecture, the Author examines whether these Bones were thus united while the Fetus was in the Mother's Womb while the Person was living, or after its Death in the Ground: Though the two last Opinions appear most likely to some Persons, yet he allows neither of them; for as to the Earth, it is either pure and Elementary, or impregnated with some Principle capable to produce the Effect. Pure Earth being made up only of fryable, porous, irregular Particles, can but suck up the superficial Moisture of the Ligaments of this Trunk, otherwise by Evaporation in the Sun Ligaments and Cartilages would become Bony; and the Earth is never so stipite as to procure so intimate an Union. If you will say, the Earth was impregnated with some Principle, it must be either Water, Sulphur, or Salt; neither of which seem proper to cement Bones: All know that Water and Sulphur are so far from hardening Ligaments, that they rather soften and relax by their slippery and fluid Particles. Nor does he think Alkali's or Acids are capable to turn to Bone. First, Alkali's being bristly, stiff, and inflexible, are proper to separate than unite; as is seen by putting a piece of a Ligament into any Alkaline Salt. And Secondly, Acids are most proper to break the Texture, and divide even the hardest Bodies, and upon Experiment Cartilages are dissolved in them; besides, could this Effect have been produced in the Earth, why was not the whole Body turned to Bone? Our Author gives several other Reasons for his rejecting this Opinion, touching upon the manner of Petrifaction, which he says, is by the little Acid Aculei, which being in a fluid state, insinuate themselves into and stop up the Pores of the petrified Bodies, rendering them more compact. He attempts attempts the cause of the crooked and bending shape of his Sceleton; and having rejected several, as a Hurt or Blow, the Rickets, Old Age, &c. he concludes it must proceed from the first Formation of the Fetus in the Womb, from the Eggs not having sufficient room, or being accidentally preit by some abscess in the Womb or elsewhere, so that the Carina of the Back-bone instead of running strait was bent into a Circle, and kept the same Figure when at full growth that these Bones had taken when soft and tender. Having given this Reason for the crookedness of the Back-bone, he thence deduces the situation of the rest, as the drawing down of the Ribs and Sternum to the Osse Ilium: And from these Vertebrae and other Bones being thus prest upon each other, and so rendered unmoved, he shews the cause of their being united into one Bone, the Pores of such tender Parts being easily stopt, so that the Blood and other Humours could not pass, and upon that Account the Cartilages of the Vertebrae becoming dry, united into one piece. By the same Reason the Ribs being prest against the Vertebrae for several Months, and without Motion in the Womb, could receive and admit little or no Moisture between them, whence their Cartilages became hard and united, and in time Bony, as several other Bones of the Body do though they were but Gristles when in the Womb. He proceeds to make some Remarks upon his Sceleton, as that necessarily the Body of this Person must have been immoveable, that he could neither bend nor stretch himself out, rise up nor lie down, nor turn upon his Side, having only the Head, Feet, and Hands moveable. The great difficulty seeming to be in the Respiration, how that could be performed when the Ribs were thus immoveable: He endeavours to obviate this by observing, first, how little motion of the Breast is necessary to to continue the motion of the Blood through the Lungs, as is visible in Hysterick Fits, &c. Again, the Ribs of his Skeleton, though fixt at the centre, might yet be moved at the ends, and so the Thorax enlarged by a much less strength than that of the Muscles used for that purpose; besides the Diaphragm, the chief Organ of Respiration in this Subject, was free in its acting; and it is likely this Person breathed very short, the quickness of the Returns supplying the defect of a large draught of Air at once. He adds, that possibly the Foramen Ovale might continue open, and that by it and the Arterial Canalis the Blood might pass from the Cava to the Aorta, but a part of it passing through the Lungs: He confirms this by an Observation he lately made in a Girl of four or five Years old, in whom the Foramen Ovale was but half closed up, and in the form of a Crescent. To this our Author adds another Observation of the Bones of the Thigh and Leg growing together in an Adult Person, the place of their joyning being much more solid than any other Part. These Bones were so bent at the Knee, as to make an acute Angle, yet were they without any Exostosis, Rotteness, Fracture, or unnatural Figure. It is more surprizing to find the Knee, whose motion is free and large, to be thus united, than that of the Ribs of the Skeleton, whose motion is obscure, and scarce sensible. Some thought this might proceed from an Ulcer in the Knee, which our Author will no ways grant, an Ulcerous Matter being not fit for the joyning of Bones together; and adds the Observation of a Person with an Ulcer in the Knee, which made such havock, that the Thigh and Leg hung together but by the Skin. These Bones seemed too sound to suppose the Person had a Wooden Leg, which by continual Kneeling upon might make the Bones unite; besides, this Accident is no more likely to befall a Person using using a Wooden Leg, than any other, since the Musculi flexores & extensores Tibiae act alternately in each step, which is sufficient to hinder the growing together of the Joyn. From this Observation our Author confirms what he had before advanced of the Bones being united in the Womb, concluding that this proceeded from the Knee of the Fetus being too much bent and prest against the Thigh-bone, and so united as he had explained that of the Back-bone and Ribs. He concludes all with granting, that some Persons of an hot Temperament have their Aorta near the Heart Bony, the Sinus's of the Brain, or the like; that some Cartilages and Ligaments become Bony in very old Men, that some parts of the Body may have acquired some degree of Bonyness, which afterwards become more solid by drying in the Earth: Nevertheless he is not satisfied how his Subjects should become Bony in some and not in other Parts, except it be granted that the Fibres of some Parts were from their first formation in the Womb more united than others, which afterwards gave occasion to their Ossification. Fig. I. Represents the Skeleton with the Vertebrae of the Back and Ribs united. a a a a, b b b b, c c. The Vertebrae of the Neck, Back, and Osse Illium, all joined together. d d d d. Several of the Ribs united to the Back-bone. Fig. II. The Thigh and Leg-Bones united together at the Knee. g g g. The place where the Os Femoris and Tibiae were united. V. Mr.