ANATOMY 



transmitting the weight thereof from the leg to the 

 ground. The arched foot is one of the distinguish- 

 ing features of man, enabling him to stand and walk 

 in the erect posture with facility. 



The foot-arch may be described as consisting 

 of two pillars set at an angle to one another. The 

 body-weight bears upon the angle or apex of the 

 arch, and is thence transmitted by the two pillars 

 to the ground. Of the two pillars, one longer 

 and more obliquely set slopes groundwards to- 

 wards the toes, while a shorter, more vertically 

 set hinder pillar is provided by the heel-bone. 

 Owing to the more vertical set of the hinder pillar, 

 the larger component of the body-weight is trans- 

 mitted to the ground through the heel-bone, which 

 is consequently subject to very considerable com- 

 pression in the standing position. 



If the heel-bone be examined, it gives the im- 

 pression of being a solid mass of bone, but if it be 

 cut through with a saw it is found to consist almost 

 exclusively of spongy or lattice-work bone sur- 

 rounded by the merest shell of condensed bone. 

 The bars of the lattice-work are so slender as to 

 make the spongy bone present in the lower end 

 of the thigh-bone look quite coarse in comparison. 

 Two chief sets of bars can be easily recognised in 

 the lattice-work. One set slopes downwards and 

 backwards from the upper part of the bone that is, 

 from the apex of the foot-arch to the lower and 



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