NATURAL THEOLOGY. 105 



quires a shoaler socket to allow it a freer play. 

 Whereas the thigh bone forming a part of the column 

 of the body, having to support the body, firmness 

 was principally to be consulted." Upon natural 

 principles, however, the deeper socket ought to 

 have been at the shoulder. At the hip the pressure 

 of the bone is never against the bottom of the re- 

 ceptacle, so as to tend naturally, as one might say, 

 to deepen the cavity. At the shoulder, on the con- 

 trary, the head of the arm always forces into the cup 

 in which it moves. The neck of the thigh bone is 

 bent over, and enters sideways. Consequently, there 



16. 



This figure exhibits the neck of the femur or thigh bone, bent 

 over, and inserted by the head into the socket at a. 



is no pressing inward at this joint. We see why the 

 hip socket should be made deep to prevent the bone 



