THE CANCELLI OF BOXES 105 



themselves immediately supported by the neck, 

 the axis of which forms an angle of about 120 



o 



with that of the shaft of the bone, if the lower 

 angle be measured, or of 60 if the upper. 1 The 

 weight of the body will, therefore, have an angu- 

 lar bearing upon the axis of the neck, and its 

 tendency will be to bend or break the neck in a 

 downward direction. The means which nature 

 has adopted to counteract this tendency con- 

 sist : 



1. In making the vertical diameter of the neck 



1 This measurement was made from the specimen which has 

 served for the present description. Great confusion exists in 

 systematic treatises, with regard to the size of the angle which 

 the neck makes with the shaft of the femur. Some writers de- 

 scribe it only in general terms, as Meckel, who refers to it as 

 " un angle presque droit ; " Soemering, " un angle aigu ; " Cru- 

 veilhier and Quain, as " an obtuse angle," etc. Where more pre- 

 cise statements are made, great difference will be found, not only 

 as regards the number of degrees which the angle is estimated 

 to make, but, also, with regard to the angle which is measured ; 

 some measuring the angle which the axis of the neck makes with 

 that of the shaft below their union, and others with the continu- 

 ation of that axis above it. In order, therefore, to compare the 

 different statements, it will be necessary to give, in each case, the 

 complementary angles, and then we can designate the corre- 

 sponding angles. The angle which the neck makes with the 

 shaft, is, according to 



Ward, 125 comp. angle 55. 



B. Cooper, 45 " " 135. 



Morton, 3o-40 " " 145-140. 



Comparing the corresponding angles, we have 125, 135, 140, 

 and 145, giving a variation of 20. 



