222 EXTREMITIES OF THE FffiTUS. 



There are no bones of the carpus ; but in their situation is an 

 equal number of cartilages, which resemble them exactly. 

 These cartilages are separated from each other, by synovia 

 membranes, as the bones afterwards are. Each of them 

 ossifies from a single point, except the unciforme. 



The metacarpal bones, and the first bone of the thumb 

 have cartilages at each extremity, which afterwards become 

 epiphysis. 



The bones of the phalanges are likewise cartilaginous at each 

 extremity. The extremities next to the hand are epiphyses ; 

 but it is probable that the other extremities ossify gradually 

 from their centres.* 



In the lower extremity, the head and neck, and two tro- 

 chanters of the os femoris are cartilaginous and form three 

 epiphyses. 



The other end of this bone is also cartilaginous, and consti- 

 tutes but one epiphysis, notwithstanding its size ; the ossification 

 commencing in the centre. 



At birth, the body of the os femoris is less curved than it 

 becomes afterwards ; and the angle formed by the neck of the 

 bone is less obtuse than in the adult. 



The patella is entirely cartilaginous at birth. 



The two extremities of the tibia and fibula are also cartilag- 

 inous, and become epiphyses. 



The astragalus and os calcis are somewhat ossified within, 

 and have a large portion of cartilage exteriorly. 



In place of the other bones of the tarsus there are cartilages 

 of their precise shape, which are as distinct from each other as 

 the future bones are. 



The state of the metatarsal bones, and the phalanges of the 

 toes, resembles that of the bones of the hand.f 



* See Nesbit's Osteology, page 126. 



f Volehn Koyter, a disciple of Fallopius, has given to the profession one of 

 the best accounts of Osteogeny, according to Lassus. H. 



