INTRODUCTORY 10 



NAMES OF BOXES. 



The names of the bones given on pages 15 and 16 are the English 

 technical names which are generally accepted. There is, however, for 

 almost every bone an additional Latin or Greek name, whereby the 



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bone can be recognized by anatomists of all countries. Finally, many 

 bones, particularly the limb bones, have common names for general 

 use. Thus a bone may bear three names : for example, there is the 

 English technical name the clavicle, the Latin clavicula, and the 

 common name the collar-bone. 



In addition to these, bones may have technical or common names, 

 or both, in the different modern languages, and it is necessary to know 

 these names if the student is to read foreign anatomical works. For 

 example, the fibula in French is le perone ; in German, das Wadenbein. 

 Unfortunately, there is still another burden added to anatomical study, 

 in the form of synonyms, or additional English technical names, addi- 

 tional Latin or Greek names, and additional common names, for the 

 same bone ; for example, for the innominate bone, os innominatum, os 

 coxae, hip-bone, and haunch-bone. Indeed, this multiplication of names 

 would render the study of anatomy well-nigh impossible were it not 

 that many of the different names for the same bone are much alike, 

 e.g., temporal bone, os temporale, os temporis, le temporale, all having 

 the same derivation, and were not the synonyms gradually disappear- 

 ing through disuse. 



Many of the Latin and Greek names of bones are very old, and 

 their derivations cannot be always traced. In many cases the names 

 refer to the part of the body in which the bone is found ; for example, 

 femur, Latin for the thigh. Sometimes the names are based upon 

 a likeness, real or fancied, to some common object, as tibia, the Latin 

 for flute ; or, again, they may describe the shape, as scaphoid, from 

 a Greek word meaning boat-like ; or they may designate the relative 

 size, as magnum. 



Explanations of these names, together with some of the Latin and 

 Greek synonyms and the French and German names, are given when- 

 ever possible after the description of the bone. 



English technical names, as a rule, are anglicized Latin or Greek 

 names; for example, lachrymal bone, from Latin os lachrymale. In 

 many cases the English technical name is identical with the Latin 

 name ; for example, vomer, radius, fibula. For some bones the English 



