Fun Fact: os nasale

Starz episode 306, A. Malcolm

Anatomy def: The ossa nasale are small paired bones forming the bridge of nose. These support the softer cartilage sides and tip of nose.

Outlander def: Delicate nose bones in peril as arduous sweethearts bump-thump: Jamie’s hard head meets Claire’s delicate bridge of nose. Och! What a memorable moment for the two lovers, underscoring 20 years of absence!!! 

Learn about ossa nasale in Anatomy Lesson #28, Claire’s Nose – The Savvy Sniffer!

Diana’s books are replete with examples of Claire sniffing out all manner of splendors, offenders and defenders! Intact ossa nasale provide the very best nasal architecture for her (and us) to sample odors, smells, scents, aromas, fragrances, reeks, stinks, miasmas, whiffs, flavors, fetors, airs, aurae, stenches and funks. Claire’s savvy sniffer does ‘em all!

Read about Claire’s ossa nasale in Voyager book. The two-decades, long-awaited moment is interrupted with a head-to-nose kebby-lebby!

My nose hit his forehead with a sickening crunch. My eyes watered profusely as I rolled away from him, clutching my face. “Ow!”

“Christ, have I hurt ye, Claire?” Blinking away the tears, I could see his face, hovering anxiously over me. “No,” I said stupidly. “My nose is broken, though, I think.” “No, it isn’t,” he said, gently feeling the bridge of my nose. “When ye break your nose, it makes a nasty crunching sound, and ye bleed like a pig. It’s all right.” 

I felt gingerly beneath my nostrils, but he was right; I wasn’t bleeding. The pain had receded quickly, too. As I realized that, I also realized that he……

Psst….for the rest of this passage,….. read the book! <G>

See Och! See Jamie’s head smack the bridge of Claire’s nose and Claire grip her ossa nasale in Outlander, episode 306, A. Malcolm! Laddie, yer heid is as hard as an iron pot, or so says your sister, Jenny! ?

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo Credit: Sony/Starz

Fun Fact: Iris

 

Starz, Outlander episode 307, Creme de Menthe

Anatomy Def:  Flat, colored, ring-shaped layer behind the cornea of the eye, with an adjustable circular opening (pupil) in the center. In Greek mythology Iris was goddess of rainbows, an apt metaphor for the many colors of the human iris.

Outlander def: “Claire!”… His goddess, as far as Jamie’s bonny blue irises are concerned. His orbs fix on a face – not seen in 20 years! And, Claire’s irises fix on her soul mate:

Sing me a song of gal who’s not gone,

Say, could that lass be Claire?

Some were dead wrong, as she loves her man strong,

Challenge her will if you dare!

Jamie’s her man,

She belongs to his clan,

She’s part of his blood and bone!

Her eyes are for him; she’ll risk life and limb,

‘Till their life on earth shall be done!

Learn about irises in Anatomy Lesson #31, An Aye for an Eye. Irises are shaped a bit like those old 45 records: thin and flat with a hole in the center. The hole in the center of an iris is the pupil. Pupil diameter increases when the dilator pupillae muscle contracts; its diameter decreases when the constrictor pupillae muscle contracts.

Read about Jamie’s eyes in Voyager book: 

“You’re real,” he whispered. I had thought him pale already. Now all vestiges of color drained from his face. His eyes rolled up and he slumped to the floor in a shower of papers and oddments that had been sitting on the press—he fell rather gracefully for such a large man, I thought abstractedly.

See Jamie’s blue irises in Starz, Outlander episode 307, Creme de Menthe. He canna believe his irises! She’s baaack!!!!

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo Credit: Sony/Starz

Fun Fact: adductor

picture of jamie fraser on battle field from outlander

Starz Outlander episode 301, The Battle Joined

Anatomy def: Brought in? Adductor means brought in? How do such words apply to anatomy?

Easy peasy: adductors are muscles whose contraction draws a body part toward the midline or toward another body part. Six adductor muscles draw the thigh toward the midline: gracilis, adductor brevis, adductor longus and adductor magnus, aided by pectineus and obturator externus.

Outlander def: Jamie’s thigh-high kilt <G> reveals powerful left thigh adductors forming a well-defined mass of the inner thigh (red arrow). A grinning Murtagh dispatches a red coat and helps Jamie rise from a seated position: “ye are welcome!” Adductors contract to lend balance and assist Murty’s lift: git up, man, there’s a battle raging!!! 

Learn about the thigh and its powerful muscles in Anatomy Lesson #7, Jamie’s Thighs or Ode to Joy

Read about thighs in all Diana’s works as Herself often writes about them – not specifically about adductor muscles, but about various thigh muscles, sinews, bones, skin and scars! Consider this wonderful bit from Voyager book; takes you right back to that intimate C + J reunion after 20 agonizing years apart:

I reached out and stroked his thigh, touching the long scar that ran down it. “I wish I could have been there to take care of you,” I said softly. “It was the most horrible thing I ever did—leaving you, knowing … that you meant to be killed.” I could hardly bear to speak the word. 

“Well, I tried hard enough,” he said, with a wry grimace that made me laugh, in spite of my emotion. “It wasna my fault I didna succeed.” He glanced dispassionately at the long, thick scar that ran down his thigh. “Not the fault of the Sassenach wi’ the bayonet, either.” 

See Jamie’s adductor muscles in Starz Outlander episode 301, The Battle Joined. They are admirably awesome (red arrow)!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist