Page:A Treatise on the Diseases of the Bones.djvu/111

Rh occupies even a wider range than has been mentioned above, more than two-thirds of the neck of the bone occasionally disappearing; so that the head of the bone is as if it were forced in the direction of its axis towards the base of the trochanter major.

Superadded to the simple absorption of the neck of the thigh-bone, we frequently observe extensive osseous depositions on the surface of the bone; the lower part of the neck of the bone seeming as if it were incased in a sheath of osseous matter, which is sometimes of a spongy texture, and sometimes of a dense structure, and presenting an irregular stalactitic surface. In the Medico-Chirurgical Observations of, two excellent delineations are given, which illustrate this form of the affection. It is those cases of interstitial absorption which are combined with exostotic deposition, that are apt to be confounded with fracture of the neck of the thigh-bone.