THE PHALANGES. 



433 



distal ones, but this order is not constant. According to Bade,' the middle phalanges 

 have begun to ossify in the eighteenth week of foetal life, but we have found bone 

 wanting considerably later. The process of ossification in the fourth and fifth toes 

 is decidedly later than at the inner side of the foot. It does not begin in the middle 

 phalanx of the fifth till near term, and we have sometimes seen no sign of it in the 



Ossification of bones of the foot. A. during sixth foetal month; S, at eighth foetal month; C, at birth; D, 

 during first year ; E, between three and four years ; J^, at about fifteen years, a, for shaft of metatarsals ; *, for cal- 

 caneum • c, for proximal phalanges ; d, for distal phalanges ; e, for astragalus ;/, for middle phalanges ; g-, for cuboid ; 

 h, for external cuneiform ; i, for heads of metatarsal bones and base of first proximal phalanx ; j, for base of first 

 distal phalanx ; ^, for internal cuneiform ; /, for base of first metatarsal. 



fifth, and even in the fourth at birth. Proximal epiphyses appear from the fourth to 

 the sixth year, and fuse at about sixteen. The terminal phalanges have distal caps 

 like those of the hand. The fifth toe, according to Pfitzner, has the following pecu- 

 liarities : the proximal epiphysis of the second phalanx and the centre for the shaft 

 of the terminal one are wanting, the proximal epiphysis of the latter being greatly 

 exaggerated. 



^ Arch, fiir Mik. Anat., Bd. Iv., 1900. 

 28 



