222 OSTEOLOGY. 
the great trochanter. The nutrient arteries for the shaft pierce the bone on or near the linea 
aspera. Both back and front of the lower end of the shaft display the openings of numerous 
vascular canals, and the floor of the intercondylic notch is also similarly pierced. 
Connexions.—The femur articulates with the os nnominatum above and the tibia and patella 
below. The external surface of the great trochanter determines the point of greatest hip width 
in the male, being covered only by the skin and superficial fascia and the aponeurotic insertion of 
the gluteus maximus. In the erect position the tip of the trochanter corresponds to the level of 
the centre of the hip joint. When the thigh is flexed the trochanter major sinks under cover 
of the anterior fibres of the gluteus maximus. In women the hip width is usually greatest at 
some little distance below the trochanter, due to the accumulation of fat in this region. The 
shaft of the bone is surrounded on all sides by muscles. Its forward curve, however, is account- 
able to some extent for the fulness of the front of the thigh. The exposed surfaces of the condyles 
determine to a large extent the form of the knee. In flexion the articular edges can easily be 
recognised on either side of and below the patella. 
Architecture.—The shaft has a medullary cavity which reaches as high as the root of the 
small trochanter. Inferiorly it extends to within 35 inches of the lower articular surface. In 
the upper half the outer compact wall is very thick, but below the middle of the shaft it 
eradually thins until it reaches the condyles inferiorly, over which it passes as a thin, hardly 
definable external layer. Above, it is especially thick along the line of the linea aspera, and 
here the large nutrient canal may be seen passing obliquely upwards in the substance of the 
dense bone for the space of two inches. In the upper end of the shaft the osseous lamella 
springing from the sides of the medullary cavity arch inwards towards the centre, intersecting 
each other in a manner comparable to the tracery of a Gothic window. The lower wall of the 
neck is thick below, near the trochanter minor, but thins rapidly before it reaches the head. 
From this aspect of the neck there spring a series of oblique lamellee which pass upwards and 
inwards, spreading in fan-shaped manner into the under surface of the head. These are 
intersected above by lamellee which arch inwards from the outer side of the shaft below the 
ereat trochanter, as well as from the under surface of the thin but compact outer.shell of the 
upper surface of the neck, the whole forming a bracket-like arrangement which assists materially 
in adding to the strength of the neck. Further support is given by the addition of a spur of 
dense bone which springs from the inner surface of the under side of the neck, just in front of 
and above the trochanter minor: this is called the calear femorale. From it stout lamella having 
a vertical direction arise. The spongy tissue of the head and great trochanter is finely 
reticulated, that of the lower part of the neck and upper part of the shaft being more open in its 
texture. Passing vertically downwards through this tissue there is a vascular canal, the orifice 
of which opens externally on the floor of the digital fossa. 
The spongy tissue of the lower part of the shaft is more delicate and uniform in its 
arrangement, displaying a more or less parallel striation in a longitudinal direction. Subjacent 
to the articular surface the tissue is rendered more compact by the addition of lamelle disposed 
in curves in harmony with the external aspect of the bone. 
Variations.—Absence of the pit on the head of the femur for the attachment of the 
ligamentum teres has been recorded. This corresponds with the condition met with in the 
orang. Not infrequently there is an extension of the articular surface of the head on to the fore 
and upper aspect of the neck ; this is a “ pressure facet” caused by the contact of the ilae portion 
of the acetabular margin with the neck of the bone, when the limb is maintained for long periods 
in the flexed position, as in tailors, and also in those races who habitually squat (Lane, Journ. 
Anat. and Physiol., vol. xxii. p. 606). 
The occurrence of a trochanter tertius has been already referred to. Its presence is not con- 
ment. The observations of Dixon (Journ. Anat. and Physiol., vol. xxx. p. 502), who noted the 
occurrence of a separate epiphysis in three cases in connexion with it, seem to point to its 
possessing some morphological significance. 
Occasionally the gluteal ridge may be replaced by a hollow, the fossa hypotrochanterica, or in 
some cases the two may co-exist. 
The angle of the neck is more open in the child than in the adult, and tends to be less 
when the femoral length is short and the pelvic width great—conditions which particularly 
appertain to the female. There is no evidence to show that after growth is completed any 
alteration takes place in the angle with advancing years (Humphry). 
The curvature of the shaft may undergo considerable variations, and the appearance of the 
posterior surface of the bone may be modified by an absence of the linea aspera, a condition 
resembling that seen in apes; or by an unusual elevation of the bone which supports the ridge 
(femur & pilastre), produced, as Manouvrier has suggested, by the excessive development of the 
muscles here attached. 
Under the term “platymerie,” Manouvrier describes an antero-posterior compression of the 
upper part of the shaft, frequently met with in the femora of prehistoric races. 
Ossification.— The shaft begins to ossify early in the second month of foetal life, and at 
birth displays enlargements at both ends, which are capped with cartilage. If the inferior 
cartilaginous end be sliced away, a small ossific nucleus for the inferior epiphysis will usually 
be seen. This, as a rule, makes its appearance towards the latter end of the ninth month 
of foetal life, and is of service from a medico-legal standpoint in determining the age of the 
on 
