THE MUSCLES OF THE LOWER EXTREMITY. 223 



toes should be removed with the greatest care, using 

 a sharp scalpel for the purpose. This will take fully 

 an hour, as we should be particularly guarded not to 

 injure in the slightest degree any of the tendons, or 

 disturb their mutual relation to each other. At the 

 end of our work nothing should be left but the 

 skeleton of the limb ; the muscles and their tendons 

 in situ ; and the tibial cartilage so trimmed as to show 

 precisely the manner in which the tendons pass through 

 it, and their relations to each other. 



It is a good plan now to fasten the limb down 

 to a smooth surface in such a manner that the pos- 

 terior aspect faces upwards and towards you, then by 

 means of little hooks and dissecting chains the individual 

 muscles and their tendons can be raised in such a 

 manner as to greatly facilitate their study. I am thus 

 particular in these details because I have experienced 

 no little difficulty myself in properly comprehending 

 these parts, and it is simply out of the question to 

 do it at all by a hasty dissection. 



Now it will be seen, as a sort of a first introduction 

 to these parts, that the hind toe or first toe is under the 

 control of two tendons (whatever their muscles may be 

 above) : the first of these is the delicate little extensor 

 liallucis brevis (Fig. 60) already described, and the 

 second a powerful flexor tendon running along under- 

 neath its basal joint. This tendon at the back of the 

 tarso-metatarsus ossifies, and the bone is usually some- 

 thing longer than two centimetres. Others of the larger 

 tendons in the same situation do the same thing in old 

 specimens. These bones are shown at the back of the 

 tarso-metatarsus in Figs. 49 and 60. 



Confining ourselves now to the sole of the foot in this 

 cursory examination, we see that the second toe (with 

 two joints and a claw) is served by three tendons coming 



