232 A MANUAL OF ANATOMY 



The Pelvis of the Child. — ^The pelvis is of small size in the child. 

 The iliac alae are expanded, and the cavity is of small dimensions, 

 so that a large part of the urinary bladder in both sexes lies in 

 the hypogastric region of the abdomen. The sacro-vertebral angle 

 is relatively greater, and the pelvis has consequently a greater 

 inclination. 



The Femur. 



The femur extends from the hip to the knee, its direction 

 being downwards, inwards, and slightly backwards. It is a long 

 bone, and is divisible into a shaft and two extremities, upper and 

 lower. 



The upper extremity presents a head, neck, and two trochanters, 

 great and small, together with anterior and posterior intertro- 

 chanteric lines. The head forms more than half a sphere, and 

 its direction is upwards, inwards, and slightly forwards. Its 

 surface is smooth and covered by cartilage, except at a point 

 behind and below the centre, where it presents a rough depression. 

 The ligamentum teres is attached to the upper part of this depres- 

 sion, which presents a small foramen for the passage of a nutrient 

 artery. The head encroaches more upon the upper surface of the 

 neck than on the under. 



The neck forms with the shaft an angle of about 125 degrees on 

 an average, the range being from no to 140. It is greater in the 

 male than in the female. The direction of the neck is upwards, 

 inwards, and slightly forwards. It is expanded at either extremity, 

 especially towards the shaft, and it presents four aspects — anterior, 

 posterior, superior, and inferior, of which the posterior and inferior 

 are more extensive than the other two. The anterior aspect is on 

 the same plane with the anterior surface of the shaft, from which 

 it is separated by the anterior intertrochanteric line. This line 

 passes downwards and inwards, and it presents at either extremity 

 the superior cervical, and inferior cervical, tubercle. The anterior 

 intertrochanteric line gives attachment along its cervical aspect 

 to the anterior part of the capsular ligament of the hip- joint, 

 including the ilio-femoral band. Its inferior relations are the 

 vastus externus over about the upper third, and the crureus over 

 about the lower two-thirds. The anterior aspect of the neck is 

 entirely intracapsular, and is more or less ridged, being closely 

 covered by the retinacula of the capsular ligament. The posterior 

 aspect is of greater extent than the anterior, and is smooth and 

 concave. It is separated from the shaft by the posterior inter- 

 trochanteric line, which presents at its junction with the posterior 

 border of the great trochanter the quadrate tubercle, whence the 

 linea quadrati, for the quadratus femoris muscle, descends. Only 

 the upper two-thirds of this aspect are intracapsular and covered 

 by retinacula, the capsular ligament being very loosely attached 

 along the junction of the middle and lower thirds. The lower 



