LAWS OF BONE ARCHITECTURE 181 



generously provided by the Department of Anatomy, Johns Hop- 

 kins Medical School during the past two and a half years. 



Grateful acknowledgment is made of the many helpful sug- 

 gestions received from members of the faculty of this school, 

 and especially from Dr. F. P. Mall, professor of anatomy and 

 Dr. W. H. Lewis, professor of physiological anatomy, both of 

 whom have shown an unfailing interest in this work. Acknowl- 

 edgment of helpful suggestions is also due Dr. E. R. Clark, pro- 

 fessor of anatomy, University of Missouri, formerly of the fac- 

 ulty of Johns Hopkins Medical School, in whose conference 

 course in anatomy I first took up the problem of the mechanics 

 of bone. 



It is a pleasure to acknowledge the kindness of my friend, 

 James W. Beardsley, member of the American Society of Civil 

 Engineers, for his suggestions and criticisms of the sections of 

 this paper dealing with theoretical mechanics. 



Object of this paper 



The object of the paper is the investigation of the normal 

 femur as a mechanical structure: the analysis of its architecture 

 on as strict a mathematical basis as possible: the determination 

 of the quantitative relations that exist between structure and 

 function: the study of the relation of external form and internal 

 architecture: and finally the interpretation of the facts estab- 

 lished by my analysis of the femur. 



Historical 



The earliest mention of the mechanics of bone is accredited 

 to Galileo (1638), who is said by Monroe (1795), to have made 

 reference to the mechanical importance of the form of bone. 

 Galileo had made very important discoveries in the applied 

 mechanics of beams, which even now agree exactly with the 

 most refined methods of analysis. 



Duhamel (1743), in a work on anatomy published descrip- 

 tions of the inner architecture of various bones which were far 

 from accurate. Loder (1805), published an atlas in which were 



