358 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



ning in the main forward and backward, croshed by transverse ones, in part diverging 

 from the solid bone at the bottom of the intercondylar notch. Such sections show 

 also the prominence of the outer border of the patellar surface and the curve of that 

 articulation. At the upper end they display the prominence of the lesser trochanter, 

 the series of strong plates crossing it, which at a higher level are seen diverging from 

 a single plate, Bigelow's true neck^ (Merkel's calcarfemorale'), to which we shall 

 return. The greater trochanter, quite free from all pressure, is very light and the 

 head very dense. Frontal sections of the head and neck (Fig. 374) show the series 

 of plates given of? successively from both the inner and outer walls forming Gothic 



Fig. 374. 



Fig. 375. 



Calcar- 

 femorale 



Lesser 

 trochanter 



Oblique section of right femur parallel to lower 

 border of neck, through upper end of lesser tro- 

 chanter. 



Frontal section through upper end of femur, showing 

 arrangement of pressure and tension lamellae. 



arches at the top of the bone. The under side of the neck is thick and gives off a 

 series of plates, near together, running obliquely up into the head in the line of the 

 greatest pressure, especially when the shaft is oblique, as in life. A less distinct 

 series of long arches springs from the outer side, curving across, and acting as 

 "ties." The head is of the round-meshed pattern, fitted to resist pressure in any 

 direction, often presenting an almost solid core at the middle, and generally showing 

 the curved line of union of the epiphysis of the head. The true neck of the femur is 

 a plate, or a series of plates, springing from a thick spur of bone, which leaves the 

 hind wall of the neck to run outward towards the greater trochanter. This is best 



' The Hip, Philadelphia, 1869 ; also Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1875. 

 ' Virchow's Archiv, Bd. 1., 1870. 



