219 



free secondary cuboid i). To my annoyance, I am quite unable to refer 

 to the passage, but Professor Schwalbe has confirmed the accuracy 

 of my recollection. Krause (4) cannot have been aware of this fact, 

 as he states in v. Bardeleben's Handbuch der Anatomie that this 

 bone is "hypothetisch von Pfitzner aufgestellt". 



My primary object in writing this paper is to describe a very 

 fine specimen of a free secondary cuboid, which I met with during the 

 past winter ^). It occurred on the left foot of a white man, aged 44 

 (Fig. 1). In all other respects the feet were remarkably normal, and 

 showed no signs of inflammation. The extreme length of the bone 

 antero-posteriorly is 21 mm, the extreme breadth 12,5 mm ; the thick- 

 ness from above downward 18 mm to 19 mm. The exposed projecting 

 portion of the bone appearing on the plantar surface of the foot may 

 be described as egg-shaped. The distal end does not quite reach the 

 external cuneiform. The proximal end fills the angle between the cal- 

 caneus and talus, articulating with both. The dorsal part enters the 

 space between the navicular and cuboid, being attached to the former 

 by strong fibrous tissue, and articulating with the latter. The bone 

 presents three articular surfaces, coated with typical articular cartilage 

 and resting on similar surfaces of the three bones just mentioned. 

 These three articular surfaces, although facing in different directions 

 and more or less distinctly marked oft' from one another by ridges, 

 are all continuous. The anterior one, which faces upward and laterally, 

 articulates with the cuboid. It is nearly square, measuring 8 mm each 

 way, and nearly plane. The corresponding articular surface on the 

 cuboid is a trifle smaller. A rounded elevation separates this first 

 facet from that for the calcaneus, which is shghtly convex, measuring 

 antero-posteriorly 8 mm and vertically 10 mm. The corresponding 

 surface on the calcaneus is somewhat sickle - shaped, the point being 

 below and the concavity in front. The lower part of the cartilage on 



1) Since the article was sent to the Anzeiger I have learned 

 through the kindness of Professor Schwalbe that Pfitzner referred 

 to Schwai.be's specimen in his paper "Die morphologischen Elemente 

 des menschlichen Handskeletts" in the Zeitschrift für Morphologie und 

 Anthropologie, Bd. 2, p. 96. 



2) I may mention that I recognized this element on a skiograph 

 of the foot, which had been taken as a matter of routine when it had 

 been only superficially dissected. I wrote on the cover, "free secondary 

 cuboid", but such a find seemed so unlikel}^ that I put a question mark 

 after the "free''. 



