Page:A Treatise on the Diseases of the Bones.djvu/110

94 the action of some great pressure; and I have seen cases in which the interstitial absorption had proceeded so far, that the head of the thigh-bone rested upon the upper part of the trochanter minor; and, in a specimen which is in my collection, that tuberosity is actually hollowed out, so as to afford a cavity for the head of the femur.

It does not always happen, however, that the shortening proceeds to the greatest extent at the lower surface of the cervix, the upper surface being in some cases most materially affected; and there are specimens in pathological collections which prove that it may take place in every part of the circumference of the neck of the thigh-bone. In some rare cases I have observed, that, combined with the shortening of the cervix femoris, there is also a flattening of the head of the bone, and the formation of a deep groove around the lower edge of the corona. The absorption