222 Diseases of Bone. 



covered with their periosteum, which was not easily separated, 

 and in endeavouring to separate it the knife went into the 

 bone. She had lain in bed for the last two or three years, and 

 therefore the spine, the thorax, and the pelvis are the parts 

 most distorted. The arms and legs are those of a tall woman. 

 From the occiput to the edge of the ilium is less than ten 

 inches. The femur measures sixteen inches, yet on each side 

 it is a little shortened by the neck being at right angles with 

 the rest of the bone, so as to make the lesser trochanter almost 

 touch the ilium. The lower vertebrae of the neck and upper 

 vertebrse of the back protrude backwards almost at right angles, 

 and the lower vertebrae of the back and loins make a great 

 protrusion forwards. There is a remarkable indentation in the 

 middle of the ribs on the right side, and those on the outer 

 side are very much compressed and irregular. This was 

 evidently caused by the muscles of respiration on the softened 

 ribs. 



" Measurement of the Pelvis. — That which at first appears as 

 the projection of the sacrum is the bodies of the three lower 

 lumbar vertebrse fallen forward so as to occupy the cavity of 

 the pelvis. The sacrum has receded. From the promontory of 

 the sacrum to that part of the brim of the pelvis opposite to 

 the left acetabulum is something less than a quarter of an inch. 

 From the right side of the promontory of the sacrum to the 

 linea innominata is half an inch. The forefinger can here with 

 difficulty be introduced between the bones ; from the sacrum to 

 the symphysis of the os pubis is two and a fifth inches. There is 

 one part, and only one part of the brim, which admits a ball 

 of an inch in diameter to rest in it. The ball will nowhere 

 pass through. Where it lies it rests against these points — the 

 fourth vertebrse of the loins, and the bodies of the two ossa 

 pubes. The sacrum has suffered severely by her continually 

 resting upon it. It is so bent that the base and angle of the 

 bone approach within half an inch of each other. The outlet 

 of the pelvis would also be considered remarkably distorted 

 were not the attention fixed upon the unique distortion of the 

 brim." B. C. i. 3. M. 25. 



