50 The trapezoid is a smaller
bone than the preceeding and has like the pisiform bone its great
diameter from side to side. It presents an articular edge to the
unciformis. THE META-CARPUS. The meta-carpus consists of five bones, which have a long axis from above to below, and an inferior articular extremity and a narrow body. THE PHALANGES. These are much like the meta-carpal bones in form, and need no further comment save that their superior or meta-carpal extremity is larger than the inferior one. They amount to twenty-seven and are thus situated :
All the bones of the paddle
had inter-articular cartilages, they diminish in size towards their
extremity and grow wider apart. THE POSTERIOR EXTREMITIES.The posterior extremities, which are longer than the anterior, are composed of the femur, leg and paddle. THE FEMUR.
The Femur (j) as a matter of course is somewhat like the
humerus, but is longer, rounder and more slender. Its head
which articulates in the cotyloid cavity is as much marked with fossæ
as that of the humerus and has like it a rim for the capsular
ligament. The body is rounded and smooth and spreads into the flattened
surface of the inferior extremity of this bone. It is convex below
and marked with striæ from above to without and beneath. Of the
two external edges the posterior one is the most
concavely curved. THE LEG. The fibula and
tibia constitute this division. The fibula (k) the most
external bone of the two has an upper anteriior and posterior
flattened surface, a superior and an inferior
articulatory extremity, an internal convex and rounded
boundary and an internal semi-lunated edge. THE POSTERIOR PADDLE. THE TARSUS. Three
bones constitute the tarsus - an external articular one, a median
cuneiform bone larger than the preceding, and a third situated between
them inferiorly. As may have been expected, these three bones have
their anterior and posterior surfaces flattened and
smooth like those of the carpus.
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