CHAPTER XVI. 



THE MANUS. 



The terminal segment of the anterior limb is the hand or 

 mantis. 1 Its skeleton consists of three divisions : (i) The 

 carpus, a group of small, more or less rounded or angular 

 bones, with flattened surfaces applied to one another, and, 

 though articulating by synovial joints, having scarcely any 

 motion between them ; (2) the metacarpus, a series of 

 elongated bones placed side by side, with their proximal 

 ends articulating by almost immoveable joints with the 

 carpus ; (3) the phalanges, or bones of the digits, usually 

 three in number to each, articulating with one another by 

 freely moveable hinge-joints, the rirst being connected in 

 like manner to the distal end of the corresponding meta- 

 carpal bone. 



To understand thoroughly the arrangement of the bones 

 of the carpus in Mammals, it is necessary to study their 



1 " On account of the ambiguity arising from the as yet unsettled con- 

 notation of the terms ' hand' and 'foot,' I think it better, in a scientific 

 treatise, to disuse them altogether, and ... to adopt for the anterior 

 extremity (the carpus and all beyond it) the term manus, and for the 

 homotypal posterior segment the term pes. The all but necessity for 

 distinct hovwlogical terms for such parts is obvious." — MlVART, On the 

 Appendicular Skeleton of the Primates, Phil. Trans. 1867. 



