The text describes parts of the human spine, particularly the loins and sacrum, explaining their structure and connections. It also mentions historical anecdotes and beliefs about humans having tails, with references to occurrences in England and Amsterdam. The sacrum is described as a triangular, foundational bone supporting the upper body.
The Human Figures,
thick at first, but the lower ones are the broadest, narrowing at the top: they are all connected by ligaments; one encompasses the other and is itself encompassed by another. See Illustration B and the numbers, 1, 2, 3, and others marked there.
11. The Loins, having five vertebrae; starting below the twelfth vertebra of the spine, and ending at the tailbone. See Illustration A and B.
12. The Sacrum, improperly named only because of its location; having five or six small bones connected to each other; it is a triangular bone, which forms the foundation and base of the upper body, supporting all the vertebrae of the spine. See front and back of Illustration A and B. One must firmly believe that people who have a kind of tail behind them actually possess such a thing. It is nothing but an extension of an elongated tailbone, usually consisting of three or four small bones that, due to chance, forgot their natural duties and thus form a tail. We have been informed that this occurs more in England than elsewhere. About 20 years ago, there was a Scottish boy in Amsterdam who had a tail 4 fingers wide, as eyewitnesses reported, who saw him swimming more than once here in Amsterdam on the Singel, not far from the Jan Raampoort. That the English are also nicknamed "Tails" derives from a similar story: namely that at a certain time, a devout bishop was persecuted by some unruly people.
Translation Notes:
The term 'Steert-Been' refers to the tailbone or coccyx, and the 'Heylig-Been' is the sacrum.