FEMUR 



237 



project less into it. The promontory 

 is less projecting, the sacrum wider and 

 less curved, 1 and the coccyx more 

 movable. The arch of the pubes is 

 wider, and its edges more everted. The 

 tuberosities of the ischia and the aceta- 

 bula are wider apart. 



In the foetus, and for several years 

 after birth, the pelvis is small in pro- 

 portion to that of the adult. The cavity 

 is deep, and the projection of the sacro- 

 vertebral angle less marked. The an- 

 tero-posterior and transverse diameters 

 are nearly equal. About puberty, the 

 pelvis in both sexes presents the general 

 characters of the adult male pelvis, but 

 after puberty it acquires its proper sex 

 ual characters. 



THE FEMUR OR THIGH-BONE. 



The Femur is the longest, largest, and 

 strongest bone in the skeleton, and al- 

 most perfectly cylindrical in the greater 

 part of its extent. In the erect posture 

 it is not vertical, being separated from 

 its fellow above by a considerable in- 

 terval, which corresponds to the entire 

 breadth of the pelvis, but inclining 

 gradually downwards and inwards, so 

 as to approach its fellow towards its 

 lower part, for the purpose of bringing 

 the knee-joint near the line of gravity 

 of the body. The degree of this in- 

 clination varies in different persons, 

 and is greater in the female than in the 

 male, on account of the greater breadth 

 of the pelvis. The femur, like other 

 long bones, is divisible into a shaft, and 

 two extremities. 



The Upper Extremity presents for exa- 

 mination a head, a neck, and the greater 

 and lesser trochanters. 



The head, which is globular, and forms 

 rather more than a hemisphere, is di 

 rected upwards, inwards, and a little 

 forwards, the greater part of its con- 

 vexity being above and in front. Its 

 surface is smooth, coated with cartilage 

 in the recent state, and presents, a little 

 behind and below its centre, an ovoid 

 depression, for the attachment of the 

 ligamentum teres. The neck is a flat- 

 tened pyramidal process of bone, which 



1 It is not unusual, however, to find the sacrum 

 in the female presenting a considerable curve 

 extending throughout its whole length. 



Fig. 170. Right Femur. Anterior Surface. 



MIUBATOA tnrtRNus 



