114. 



PELVIS. 



Baly. Goodsir, The Ultimate Secreting Structure 

 and the Laws of its Function, Trans. Roy. Soc. of 

 Edinb., vol. xv. Cyclopaedia of Anatomy, Articles 

 Secretion and Digestion. Meyer, Diet, du Soe. Mc'd, 

 t. iii. p. 283. Fordyce, A Treatise on the Digestion 

 of Food. Blumenbach, Institut. of Physiol. Lenret 

 and Lassaigne, Recherches experimentales sur la 

 Digestion. Tiedemann and Gmelin, Recherches 

 Physiologiques et Chimiques pour servir a 1'Ilis- 

 toire de la Digestion. Bouchardat and Sandras, 

 Chemistry of Digestion. Bernard, De 1'Origine du 

 Sucre, &c., Arch. Ge'n. de Med., 1848. Idem., Du Sue. 

 Pancreatique, &c., Arch. Ge'n. de Me'd., 1849. Bidder 

 und Schmidt, Die Verdauungsgeschafte and der 

 Stoffwechsel, Leipsig, 1852. Lenz, De Adipis Con- 

 coctione et Absorptione, Dorpati, 1850. Robin et 

 Verdeil, Traite" de Chimie Anatomique et Physio- 

 logique, Paris, 1853. Frerichs, Wagner's Hand- 

 wBrterbueh der Physiologic, vol. iv. Colin, Comptes 

 Eendus. 



e. Morbid Anatomy. Morgagni, De Causis et 

 Sedibus Morborum, Epist. xxx., Art. 8. 9. 11. 13. 

 Bright, Elliotson, and Lloyd, Med. Chir. Trans., 

 vol."xviii. Cruveilhier, Anat. Pathologique. Bally ,^ 

 Morbid Anatomy, chap. xii. Pemberton, Diseases of 

 the Abdom. Viscera. Fearnside, Med. Gaz., vol. xlvi. 

 Mondiere, Archiv. Ge'n. de Me'd., t. xii. Battersby 

 (Dr.), Dublin Quarterly Journ., vol. xxiv. Monthly 

 Journal of Med. Sc., Sept., 1848. Abercrombie, Med. 

 Chir. Trans., vol. xviii. Tlwmpson, Library of 

 Medicine, vol. iv. Lawrence, Med. Chir. Trans., 

 vol. xvi. Copland, Med. Diet., Article " Pancreas." 

 Gross, Archiv. Ge'n. de Me'd., t. xix. Kirkes, 

 Handbook of Physiology. Clarke (Dr. Alfred), 

 Lancet, Aug. 1851. 



(Hyde Sailer.') 



PELVIS. (vrfXr?, Gr. ; Pelvis, Lat.; le 

 JB.issin, Fr.; das Bcckcn, Germ.) The pel- 

 vis is the bony girdle which connects the 

 spinal column with the bones of the lower or 

 hinder extremities. 



It derives its name from its supposed 

 resemblance in the human subject to a 

 basin. Its figure, however, varies greatly in 

 different animals. The description which 

 follows, refers to the human male pelvis, 

 which may be taken as a standard cf com- 

 parison. It is composed of three principal 

 pieces, two of which are symmetrical in 

 shape, lateral in position, connected an- 

 teriorly, and called the innommale bones ; 

 and the third, called the sacrum, intervenes 

 between the former at their posterior extre- 

 mities, and connects them tothe spinal column, 

 of which it forms the inferior or posterior 

 portion. Appended to the lower extremity 

 of the sacrum is a small bone, the coccyx, 

 the representative of the caudal bones in the 

 lower animals, which, as influencing the 

 shape and completing the formation of the 

 walls of the pelvis, is considered as a part 

 pf it. 



The INNOMINATE BONE (Os innominatum, 

 coxarum, sloe pelvis laterulis, Lat ; /'Os d'ile, 

 coxaux, Fr. ; das ungenannte Bein, Germ. ; 

 Jigs. 76, 77.) is a bone of so irregular a 

 .shape as to leave it without a name in the fan- 

 ciful nomenclature of the older anatomists. 

 It is broad and expanded at the upper ex- 

 tremity, rounded and perforated at the lower, 

 constricted in the middle like a figure of 8, 

 and bent into a curve, with its concavity di- 

 rected forwards, upwards, and inwards, at the 



upper end ; and backwards and inwards at 

 the lower, so as to form a segment of the 

 pelvic circle. 



Its office is to support the bones of the 

 lower extremities; to transmit to them from 

 the sacrum the weight of the trunk in the 

 erect position ; and to afford a basis of sup- 

 port in the sitting posture. It also forms a 

 protecting enclosure to the important viscera 

 within it, and gives attachment to the abdo- 

 minal and leg muscles. 



This bone is usually described in three 

 separate portions, into which it is separable 

 in young persons, and which are called, re- 

 spectively, the /launch bone or ilium (das Hiift- 

 bein, Germ.; Flleon, Fr.); the seat bone or 

 ischium (TO ia\iov, Gr. ; das Sitzbein, Germ. ; 

 r Ischeon, Fr.) ; and the share bone or pid>is 

 (6 KTUQ, Gr. ; das Schaambein or Sclwossbein, 

 Germ .). 



Of these three, the ilium forms the upper 

 expanded portion, and the pubes and ischium 

 the lower perforated portion ; the former being 

 placed before, and the latter behind the opening. 

 In the perfect bone, however, these three are 

 completely soldered together by bony union in 

 the central constricted portion, where each con- 

 tributes to form a deep cavity, externally, for 

 the reception of the head of the thigh bone. 

 From this cavity the three portions radiate ; 

 the ilium upwards, the ischium downwards, 

 and the pubes forwards, each contributing to 

 support the thighbone by its centra! extremity. 

 The innominate bone may, however, be most 

 briefly described as one bone, consisting of 

 two surfaces, external and internal; bounded 

 by four borders, superior, inferior, anterior, and 

 posterior, 



The superior border, formed entirely by the 

 ilium, is the most regular and the most ex- 

 tended. It forms an arch, directed from be- 

 hind forwards and outwards, and curved 

 laterally so as to present, on looking at it 

 from above, the shape of an italic f; the 

 smaller concavity being posterior and directed 

 outwards ; and the larger, anterior and di- 

 rected inwards, contributing to form the ge- 

 neral concavity of the internal surface. This 

 border is thickened in a somewhat irregular 

 manner, forming what is called the crest of the 

 ilium (a,c,b), upon which maybe traced an 

 internal and an external lip, and a rough broad 

 central line. These ridges are caused by the 

 attachment of the abdominal muscles. The 

 external lip is called, by some authors, the su- 

 perior curved line of the ilium. The crest is 

 very much thickened and irregular at the pos- 

 terior extremity, where it terminates in a back- 

 ward projection, the posterior superior spinous 

 process (l>). It is also thickened into an out- 

 ward projection a litlle in front of the centre 

 (c), and also in a less degree at the anterior 

 extremity, where it projects forwards, forming 

 the anterior superior spinous process (a). 



The anterior border consists of an upper 

 vertical portion formed by the ilium, and a 

 lower oblique portion formed by the pubis. 

 It commences above at the anterior superior 

 spine, an inch below which it presents a similar 



