Bone

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

the material of which the skeleton or framework of vertebrate animals is composed. Calcium or lime, carbon, phosphorus, and magnesium are the principal mineral elements. The name is also applied to the single parts. For instance, the human skeleton contains about 200 bones. It is well to distinguish bone from ivory, whalebone, and horn, which are only modifications of the skin. The antlers of the deer kind are of genuine bone. Live bone is intersected by numerous canals through which blood vessels find their way. In the arts bones of cattle, horses, and other animals are used for a variety of purposes, such as knife handles, combs, buttons, etc. Bones are converted also into glue, lampblack, and animal charcoal. Pounded bones are excellent food for poultry, furnishing the necessary material for egg shells. Bone dust is an excellent fertilizer on account of the phosphate of lime it supplies. Boneblack, obtained by charring bone, is used for filtering purposes by the sugar refiner. It is also an excellent disinfectant. In literature a number of peculiar expressions have sprung up, possibly from the wrangling of dogs over bones, as "a bone to pick," "bone of contention," "to make no bones of," "without more bones." An emaciated horse or other animal is called a "bag of bones." A bone of the elbow particularly sensitive to blows is called the crazy bone or funny bone. See Horn ; Skeleton ; Vertebrate 2026 Editor's Note: Bone is not the inert scaffolding it looks: it is living tissue, constantly dissolved and rebuilt, so that a skeleton largely replaces itself over a decade. The adult total is 206, not quite the 200 given here — babies start with about 270, many of which fuse. Its marrow makes blood, which is why a marrow transplant can cure leukemia. (Ed: BR 2026-06-12)