HANDS AND FEET. 283 



supporting carpal bone as a man rides on a saddle, each of the 

 three adjoining surfaces being inversely concave in one direction 

 and convex in the other. This metacarpal bone is so placed as 

 to stand out and diverge at a marked angle from the other four 

 metacarpals. The bones which support the digits are called 

 phalanges, and there are three such to each digit, except the 

 thumb (pollex), which has but two. These bones are coated 

 with membranes, and wrapped round more or less by muscles 

 and tendons. The muscles are the organs which move the bones 

 as so many levers over one another, and they do so by means of 

 tough cords or tendons which pass from the muscles to be 

 inserted into the bones which are to be thus moved. 



The human foot, like the human hand, consists of three 

 parts : — (1) the ankle (corresponding with the wrist) ; (2) the 

 fleshy or middle part of the foot (corresponding with that of the 

 hand) ; and (3) the toes or five digits of the foot. At the end 

 of each digit is a nail, which covers the upper or dorsal 

 surface of the digit. Of the toes, the first or second is the 

 longest, whence they decrease in length to the little toe. 



When we examine the bones of the foot, we find (just as in 

 the hand) that the first two constituent parts of the foot are 

 more distinct than they seem to be when the foot is viewed 

 externally. For the ankle (like the wrist) is formed of a small 

 number (seven) of irregularly shaped small bones grouped 

 together, interposed between the bones of the leg and those of 

 the middle part of the foot. Of these seven bones, one (the 

 astragalus) directly articulates with the leg bone; another, "the 

 heel bone," is called the " os calcis " ; and a third, to which for 

 a reason (hereafter apparent) I would direct attention, is 

 named the " naviculare." It is quite a short bone (broader than 

 long), and none of the bones of the ankle are long bones. Each 

 is called a "tarsal bone," and the whole skeleton of the ankle is 

 called the "tarsus." 



The bones of the fleshy or middle part of the hand are five 

 long bones, each attached to the tarsus at one end, and destined 

 to support a digit at the other. Each of these five bones is 

 called a "metatarsal bone," and the five metatarsal bones are 

 spoken of together as the "metatarsus." 



The metatarsal bone which supports the great toe, or, as it is 

 technically termed, the "hallux," is fitted on to its supporting 



