Page:Structure and functions of the body; a hand-book of anatomy and physiology for nurses and others desiring a practical knowledge of the subject (IA structurefunctio00fiskrich).pdf/195

 "coxa vera", in which the neck is almost horizontal. Extending upward, outward, and backward from the shaft at the base of the neck, about three quarters of an inch lower than the head and about on a level with the acetabulum and the spine of the os pubis, is the greater trochanter. This large, irregular prominence and the smaller one of the lesser trochanter, which is at the lower part of the base of the neck posteriorly, are for the attachment of muscles and to assist in rotating the bone. The lower extremity of the femur is larger than the upper and is flat from before backward. Between its two large eminences, the external and internal condyles, is a smooth depression in front, the ''trochlear surface'', for articulation with the patella. The external condyle is more prominent in front, the internal inferiorly, the latter being the longer of the two by about half an inch. The epiphysis at the lower end of the femur is the only one in which ossification has begun at birth. Therefore, if ossification is found there, the child is known to have arrived at full term.

So many large muscles are attached to the femur that the shaft cannot be detected in the living unless the person is very thin and poorly developed. The outer surface of the greater trochanter, however, and the condyles can be felt.

A string stretched from the anterior superior spine of the ilium to the tuberosity of the ischium passes in the middle just over the upper edge of the greater trochanter. The line thus drawn is known as Nélaton's line and is of considerable importance in many conditions of the hip. Thus, if the hip is dislocated, the trochanter will be thrown above Nélaton's line[* include in markup as before?], and in osteomalacia the pelvis sinks and the trochanter is again above the line.

Thigh Muscles.—Of the thigh muscles only a few need be mentioned. One large muscle is the psoas magnus, which has its origin on the front of the last dorsal and all the lumbar vertebræ, passes down across the brim of