PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 15 



ing fingers, and small hand of the high-born lady owe 

 their shape to the delicately-formed skeleton ; just as the 

 broad and short hand and clumsy-looking fingers of the 

 rustic are due to his coarser and broader bones. Notice 

 that the second, or middle finger, is the longest ; that as 

 a rule the third, or ring-finger, is longer than the first, 

 but not always, and that the fourth is shortest of all. 



The bones of the lower extremity resemble somewhat 

 those of the upper. The great hip bones, which are 

 united to the sacrum behind, and to one another in front, 

 represent the shoulder-blades, and each bears a socket 

 for the reception of the upper end of the thigh bone. 

 This single bone, called the femur, is succeeded at the 

 knee joint by two bones, one large and massive, and 

 prismatic in shape the tibia which comes close under 

 the skin in front and forms the shin. The other is 

 slender, and passes on the outer side of the tibia, without 

 entering into the knee joint, and flanks the outer side 

 of the ankle. Then the bones of the foot, seven in 

 number, interlocked into one another, one forming the 

 heel, and bearing on its upper surface the square-shaped 

 bone which articulates with the tibia to form the ankle 

 joint. Then in front of this a boat-shaped bone, and 

 then a series of four small wedge-shaped bones, which 

 in their turn articulate with five long bones forming the 

 front part of the foot, and these again with the phalanges 

 2 



