sanheughan – Outlander Anatomy

November 12, 2014February 12, 2021

Anatomy Lesson #6: “Claire’s Hair – Jamie’s Mane” or “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!”

Hallo again, friends of Outlander Anatomy! Today’s Anatomy Lesson #6: The Skin – Part 2, Hair, will continue with skin but, today, will focus on hair, hair follicles, arrector pili muscles and sebaceous glands, all of which you learned from Skin Part 1 are made by skin and are therefore appendages of this organ.

Now, before we get on with today’s lesson, I must confess that I did a quiet switcheroo on you in the last anatomy lesson. My first four lessons were confined to that part of human anatomy known as gross anatomy, the field revealed by human dissection.

Nay…not that kind of gross, Rupert! It is termed “gross” not because it is yucky, but because it deals with structures visible to the naked eye. In Anatomy Lesson #5, I switched (without telling) to another field of human anatomy, that of microscopic anatomy.

Microscopes are used to magnify structures too wee for us to see with eyes unaided by magnifying lenses. Many of today’s images are drawings made from images observed with a compound microscope such as this one (photo A):

photo A

Once again there are 3-D images taken with powerful SEM/scanning electron microscope (Photo B). I have used both types of microscopes many times in teaching and various research projects!

photo B

Now, getting in the mood for today’s Anatomy Lesson: Skin 2 – the Hair! As with skin, Herself often writes about hair in the Outlander books, offering her audience a more intimate glimpse into characters and situations through vivid use of this physical trait. So, once again, I begin our lesson with images from the Starz Outlander series and with words from the Outlander books.

Let’s begin with our heroine. Early in Starz episode 1, Sassenach, Claire emerges from the roadster standing in the picturesque village of Inverness. We can clearly appreciate her dark brown hair – very full and very curly.

Later, during a lighting storm, Herself writes

The wind was rising and the very air of the bedroom was prickly with electricity. I drew the brush through my hair, making the curls snap with static and spring into knots and furious tangles!

The humid air makes Claire’s hair wildly curly and disobedient (Starz, episode 101, Sassenach) to which she exclaims: Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!!!

All the while, someone is awatching her futile struggles through the window of her room.

Nay, it isn’t a peeping tom, it is a keeking Jamie! Ha!

This next image of Claire always makes me laugh! In Starz episode 102, Castle Leoch, Mrs. Fitz unceremoniously rouses Claire from her sleep, seats her in a chair and hands her a cup ‘o brakfast fer her empty belly. Mrs. Fitz then whisks it away afore Claire even finishes! Look at Claire’s hair! It is absolutely fabulous! She certainly looks like the “wee milkweed” Jamie affectionately calls her later in the Outlander book.

“Fretful porpentine, was it?” he asked. He tilted his head, examining me inquisitively. “Mmm,” he said, running a hand over his head to smooth down his own hair. “Fretful, at least. You’re a fuzzy wee thing when ye wake, to be sure.” He rolled over toward me, reaching out a hand. “Come here, my wee milkweed.”

With these great images to set the mood, it is time for our anatomy lesson on hair and with it a lot of juicy tidbits to share!

First, the length of body hair varies a lot – from less than 1 mm (.04 in) on the forehead to well over 1 m (3.3 ft) with long scalp hair (Photo C)! But, the wee hairs of the eyelids (not the eyelashes) are so short they barely reach the skin surface! And, you should know that most hair grows very rapidly, about 0.3 mm/day or 1 cm/per month.

photo C

You should also know that hair does not grow straight out of the skin; it emerges at a slant (Photo D).

Try this: Check the angle of growth of your own hair: place your forearm on a flat surface with the palm down. Examine your forearm hairs and see that they are angled toward the little finger side of the forearm. That’s the slant I’m a talking about.

photo D

Hair is also denser in some skin areas than in others: the face has about 600 hairs/cm² (.16 in²) compared to about 60 hairs/cm² on the rest of the body.

Hair diameter also varies greatly but even the coarsest hair is only about .5 mm (.02 in) in diameter (Photo E). Even so, a scalp hair is strong enough to support the weight of 100 gm (3.5 oz)!

photo E

Another interesting tidbit: Human hair grows autonomously; each hair cycles at its own pace through periods of growth and periods of quiescence. If all our hair were on the same cycle, we would molt!

And sometimes our hair does unspeakable things and we just have to pull it outta the way like Angus here who does prefer a wee bit o’ purple ribbon fer his scalp hairs!

Now back to microscopic anatomy! Using the same image from Skin – Part 1, I’ll be reminding ye that skin is divided into a thin outer epidermis that overlies a thicker dermis. And, although not part of skin the hypodermis lies deeper still. The dermis and hypodermis also anchor structures that we’ll cover in this anatomy lesson: hair, hair follicles, arrector pili muscles, and sebaceous glands (Photo F).

photo F

Hairs emerge from hair follicles which are down growths of the epidermis (Photo G). The internal anatomy of each follicle is verra complex so I’m simplifying it: the hair and its follicle are divided into a hair root and a hair shaft. At the root is a bulb where cells divide and push older cells toward the surface to form the hair shaft!

photo G

Along the way, hair cells harden and get plastered together so by the time the hair clears the skin surface, the cells are dead, flat and stiff with their free edges pointing toward the hair tip. They also overlap each other like shingles on a roof (Photo H). This is a SEM image of a single hair!

Photo H

Ye should also ken that hair follicles are verra sensitive to the influence of hormones! These chemicals produce secondary sex characteristics such as hair distribution. In fact, the distribution of hair between the two sexes play an important role in socio-sexual communications!

In women, estrogens (oestrogens) cause most body hair to develop as short, thin vellus hairs that are anchored in the dermis. Both genders exhibit the coarse terminal hairs of scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, axilla and pubis that are embedded deep in the hypodermis.

In men, androgens (testosterone being the most important) also convert facial and chest hairs into terminal hairs. Now then, isna this the right place to offer praises to Dougal MacKenzie who won Saturday’s Starz contest with his comely beard? Congrats! It looks mighty fine on ye, man! Tulach Ard!

And, no anatomy lecture is ever complete without at least one image of a half-dressed Jamie! So here is his chest hair just in case ye be forgettin’! No verra damn likely! Gawd!

Something else: When viewed by SEM, straight hair has a round shaft as seen in this photo of scalp hair (Photo I –computer generated color); the surrounding dead skin cells look like scatter leaves on a forest floor.

Photo I

Murtagh’s scalp offers a perfect example of straight hair – here he is explaining to Claire why Jamie is nowhere to be seen (Starz episode 5, Rent)! Plus, he has mighty fine eyes and braw eyebrows just in case ye been so focused on Jamie that ye havena been noticing!

Scalp hair that is curly like Claire’s…

…has a shaft that is flattened in cross-section as shown in this SEM image (Photo J). The flatter the shaft, the curlier the hair!

Photo J

Now, onto a couple of other structures associated with the hair follicle. First, stretched between the follicle and the dermis is a thin band of tissue, the arrector pili muscle. Second, between the hair follicle and the arrector pili muscle lays one or more sebaceous glands with ducts opening into the hair follicle (Photo K). Sebaceous glands produce sebum, a complex mixture of fats, waxes and other materials.

photo K

The arrector pili muscles are made of smooth muscle cells that are not under conscious control. They contract in response to cold or the fright, flight, fight reflex! Contractions of this muscle elevate the hair, forming goose bumps or goose flesh and help squeeze sebum from the sebaceous glands into the hair follicle and onto the hair shaft (Photo L).

Photo L

Contraction of the arrector pili muscles in animals traps air between the erect hairs to retain body heat or to help the creature appear more fierce (Photo M)! This adaptation isn’t of much use to us short haired humans but the release of sebum does help lubricate and protect the hair itself.

Photo M

Finally, on to hair color! Like the epidermis, hair color requires the presence of melanin; melanocytes in the hair bulb synthesize melanin and package it into granules that move up the hair shaft as it forms. Now, it turns out that there are a couple of different types of melanin!

Like Claire, most hair color is due to the presence of varying amounts of brown or black eumelanin. But, now, ye are in fer a BIG surprise! I bet ye dinna ken this! Flaming red hair in one such as our Great Scott, Jamie, contains a chemically different type of melanin known as pheomelanin and this molecule is red (or red-brown)! Thus, Jamie’s gorgeous mane of red hair is due to the presence of pheomelanin as seen from the back in this image (Starz episode 7, The Wedding)!

And just so ye won’t ferget it, here is Jamie’s hair from the front! We can literally see the words Herself wrote in Outlander about his hair:

…a mass of auburn, copper, cinnamon and gold all gleaming together in the morning sun…

And one last point fer yer eddycation: Check out both upper corners of Jamie’s forehead. See how the hair line is squared off? This is known as the temporal notch; it is a secondary sexual characteristic in men brought about by the influence of testosterone. Women typically have an oval hairline in the corresponding areas of the forehead!

And now, folks, our journey through the skin and its appendages has come to an end! I do hope you have enjoyed learning about the skin ye are in and that of the Outlander cast while we are at it! At some point in the future, I will post Skin 3 – The Breast.

In the meantime, I’ll be leaving ye with these lovely words from Herself in the Outlander book and an image from Starz episode 7 (The Wedding):

You’ve the loveliest hair,” said Jamie, watching me. ….”But it’s so .…curly,” I said, blushing a little….“Aye, of course.” ….He sat up and tugged gently on one curl, stretching it down so that, uncurled, it reached nearly to my breast…

And:

“Mo duinne?”…“It means ’my brown one.’ ”He raised a lock of hair to his lips and smiled, with a look in his eyes that started all the drops of my own blood chasing each other through my veins. Rather a dull color, brown, I’ve always thought,”….”No, I’d not say that, Sassenach. Not dull at all.” He lifted the mass of my hair with both hands and fanned it out. “It’s like the water in a bern, where it ruffles over the stones. Dark in the wavy spots, with bits of silver (auburn on Starz) on the surface where the sun catches it.”

Gah, this man has a way with words! Does he ever say anything wrong? Just look at the look on Claire’s face! She’s both enchanting and enchanted!

Psst…next time, I will be writing about someone’s thighs and knees (guess whose?)! Stay tuned!

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo credit: Starz, Cat photo from goosecam Edmonton Journal, Goosebumps from genius.com, Basic Histology by Junqueira and Carneiro, 11^th ed., University of Leeds, Rochester education Foundation, Wikipedia, WebMD, Loyola University Dermatology website, Histology Guide, University of Leeds, Wikimedia.org. CSIR – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa. OA archival photos, Aersol Research – Washington University St. Louis

October 30, 2014October 26, 2017

Anatomy Lesson 4: “Jamie’s Chest – 8th Wonder of the World!”

Greetings friends of Outlander Anatomy and welcome to today’s lesson! Do you recognize the classic seven wonders of the world?

Colossus of Rhodes.
Great Pyramid of Giza.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
Statue of Zeus at Olympia.
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

The 8th wonder is, of course, James Fraser’s chest!

Getting in a mood, let’s take a wee keek at the breadth (Uncle Dougal, ye are a crud for exposing your nephew like this!)…

And the depth (BJR, man, ye are darkness itself!):

Of this very timely topic!

Now, we all ken that Claire gets her first TV looksee at Jamie’s blest-chest in Starz episode 102, Castle Leoch. But, Herself wrote in Outlander that Claire made touchdown with his chest when he fainted from blood loss after Cocknammon Rock:

“Stop! Help!” I yelled. “He’s going over!” … Jamie slid off headfirst like a sack of stones, luckily landing in someone’s arms. The rest of the men were off their horses and had him laid in a field by the time I had scrambled down. “He’s breathin’,” said one.

“Well, how very helpful,” I snapped, groping frantically for a pulse in the blackness… Putting a hand on his chest and an ear to his mouth, I could feel a regular rise and fall, with less of that gasping note. I straightened up. “I think he’s just fainted,” I said.

He groaned and opened his eyes… “I’m all right,” he said, trying to sit up. “Just a bit dizzy is all.” I put a hand on his chest and pushed him flat.

The instant the bandages were tied, the patient tried to sit up. I pushed him flat and put a knee on his chest to keep him there. “You are not to move,” I said fiercely.

So, leading up to Nurse Claire actually seeing his chest, let’s start with the castle courtyard. I have to begin the lesson here because I LOVE the courtyard scene with all its swirling undercurrents!

After dismounting, our bedraggled Claire stands there saying nothing but watching everything.

Puir lass, the front of her slip and dress have gone bye-bye, having given those up for Jamie’s field dressing. Left in her ruined, oxford walking shoes and hair in straggles, she stands out like a wee sore thumb! She is scairt and confused but tough as nails.

Our stalwart heroine stands completely IMMERSED in a maelstrom of male testosterone and ribald jokes. And, Jamie hovering…

…hovering I say!

Next, we witness a fabulous tete-a-tete between Claire, Mrs. Fitz, and Jamie where a lot is said, but a whole lot more remains unsaid!

Jamie says Murtagh found her and Dougal said to bring her along. But, it’s NO HIS FAULT that Ms. Fitz has another mouth to feed, bed to make, and body to clothe. Tcha! Just like a man!

Mrs. F is shocked at Claire’s scandalous appearance and doesn’t mind saying so!

And, Jamie still hovering in the background finding any inane thing to do with his horsey, even though there are several hostlers to do the work, all the while listening and watching the two lasses size each other up.

As Grand Dame, readies to drag Claire away for cleaning up, Claire is adamant that she must properly care for Jamie’s wound as Jamie brawly boasts “I can fend fer meself!”

Mrs. Fitz upon hearing Claire’s credentials, declares “Jamie, ye need fixin’, git yerself indoors!” Ye heard the leddy, Jamie!

And just like that, Jamie finds himself seated on a stool covered with a blanket and ALONE with Mistress Beauchamp. (Being a wee bit nosey here, who washed Jamie’s face? Whoever it was, thanks – he cleans up nicely!). Claire gently removes the blanket to cleanse the wound and hears the awful truth that her hubby’s sixth, great grandfather gleefully produced the horrific scars on Jamie’s back.

Claire takes time to properly clean Jamie’s gunshot and apply an ingenious dressing involving a pressure bandage and strips of linen crossed under both oxters, an excellent technique for anchoring a shoulder dressing. Jamie tries moving the injured shoulder and winces, so Claire promptly straps his arm to his chest by the golden glow of firelight. Why? Claire knows the arm must immobilized for at least a week to promote wound healing, a truly complicated process! By next day, someone has replaced the strap with a sling, which is not the same at all!

Sadly, we must leave this tender scene to start Anatomy Lesson #4. Sniff!

Terms: Let’s come to terms with it, anatomists do not use the terms upper and lower arms. Instead, the entire upper appendage is called the upper limb. The region between shoulder and elbow joints is the arm and the region between elbow and wrist joints is the forearm (Image A). This is important to know for this lesson.

Image A

Rib Cage: The bony foundation of the chest is the thoracic (rib) cage, including 12 pairs of ribs, their costal cartilages (blue structures), sternum (breast bone) and 12 thoracic vertebrae (Image B). This spring, bony enclosure not only protects heart, lungs, airways, esophagus, and great blood vessels, it also provides attachments for important chest muscles! Above the thoracic cage lies the clavicle (collar bone) which articulates (forms a joint) with it.

Image B

Pectoralis Major: The chest muscles or “pecs” as trainers call them, actually include two pairs of muscles on each side of the chest. The word pectoralis derives from the Latin pectus meaning “breast.”

Pectoralis major muscles are the largest, most superficial, and most powerful of the two pairs. Each fan-shaped pec major covers half of the chest and is divided into three heads. The clavicular head (Image C) arises from the clavicle.

Image C

The larger sternocostal head arises from 1 through 6 costal cartilages and sternum (Image D).

Image D

A smallish, third part (Image E) arises from an abdominal muscle. This is a fairly insignificant part unless torn in which case, the pain surpasses all conscious thought. Just kidding, except it does hurt!

Image E

Pectoralis major muscle fibers converge toward the arm inserting into the humerus or arm bone (Image F).

Image F

Heh! Wake up, fledgling anatomists!

Yep, we can do pretty much anything for the Great Scot!

On their way to the humerus, pec muscle fibers create the anterior axillary fold (Image G). This fold forms the front border of the arm pit, oxter, or axilla! (I still want to see Claire stick her foot in Jamie’s oxter!) Grab this fold on a pal or sibling and give it a wee pinch. Gives them a jolt, so not a fab idea to try someone without a sense of humor!

Image G

In this horrifying image from Starz episode 6, The Garrison Commander, Jamie’s massive right anterior axillary fold is very easy to spot. Our darling hero near freezes to death as BJR parades, preens, and prepares for his fav outdoor sport!

Function: Each pec major is a very hard working muscle. And, because it has three heads, they do quite a bit of work!

raises arm forward (as in lifting a child)
returns arm against the torso (as in setting down the child)
pulls arm from spread eagle to the sides of torso (as in standing in mountain pose)
rotates arm (internally) toward the chest

And, for those who wonder, pec major is best developed by standard pushups (not triceps type!), bench presses and weighted flyes.

Try This: You can see the tendons of your own pec majors this way: place palms together about 6” in front of your chest as in prayer mode. Now, press the palms firmly together. Your own pec majors should stand out strongly as the anterior axillary folds. Just don’t get them pinched!

Pectoralis Minor: In anatomy (like baseball), if there is a major – there is a minor. So, deep to each pectoralis major is a pectoralis minor muscle (Image H). This smaller fan-shaped muscle is also very important. It arises from the ribs (2, 3 & 4) and inserts on a small bony knob of the should blade known as the coracoid process (Greek for “like a raven’s beak”). Its contraction pulls forward on the corcoid process aiding in shoulder mobility and stability.

Image H

Applied Anatomy: OK, with the thoracic cage and two pairs of pecs done, let’s find them on our wonderful warrior! After Claire trusses Jamie up, the only parts of his chest still showing are the verra fine sternocostal heads of his pec major muscles, covered with skin, of course (blue arrows). Ye can see them fair keeking out from under the dressing. Awesome sauce! And, good reason to consider them the 8th wonder of the world.

But, wait, here’s more! The clavicular heads of Jamie’s pec major muscles are unusually well developed! Check out this image (Starz episode 5, Rent) for prominent bulges just under those bonny clavicles (blue arrows). These are the clavicular heads of each pec major, an oft neglected part in body building – but not here! Props to the trainer! Gasp! They’re bloody awesome!

Finally, Claire has done all she can legally do for Jamie – he stands there with his glorious chest peeking through the bandages and his nipped waist and.. GAH! Lord, gimme a dram!

Now, returning to anatomy (I am a professional after all)… about 1 in about 50,000 people are born without some or all of pec major and minor muscles. Known as Poland Syndrome, it may include hand and finger anomalies and shortened forearm bones. Interestingly, people with the syndrome compensate quite well using other arm and shoulder muscles. In fact, there’s a well-known PGA player, an Olympic boxer, and a Formula 1 World Champion (car racing) that have Poland syndrome and, clearly, it didn’t hinder them! The lady shown below (Image I), from a theatrical production, has it; she is missing the sternocostal head of pec major (blue arrow).

Image I

That’s it! Let’s close this lesson with a lovely poem nicely expressing the growing attraction between Nurse and Highlander!

Aug 2014

Cradle

Place your hand upon my chest.
It reminds me how it feels when it’s mended.
Then use it to cradle your head while you rest.
The worst of it, like the day, has ended.

I hope this lesson helps you more fully appreciate the chest muscles and their bony attachments. Fare thee well for now. Am thinking that Claire might be the subject of my next posting! We have ignored our amazing heroine for far too long!

How many days left before Starz episode 9? 156 days or so but who’s counting?! Sigh.

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

Photo credits:

All photos are credited to Starz or Frank Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy, 4th edition. The lady with Poland’s syndrome is an archival photo from my lectures and I do not know the photographer.