The femur, the longest and strongest bone in the skeleton, is almost perfectly cylindrical in the greater part

of its extent The Upper Extremity (proximal extremity.The upper extremity presents for examination a head, a neck, agreater and a lesser trochanter. The Head (caput femoris).The head which is globular and forms rather more than a hemisphere, is directed upward, medialward, and a little forward, the greater part of its convexity being above and in front. Its surface is smooth, coated with cartilage in the fresh state, except over an ovoid depression, the fovea capitis femoris, which is situated a little below and behind the center of the head, and gives attachment to the ligamentum teres. The Neck (collum femoris).The neck is a flattened pyramidal process of bone, connecting the head with the body, and forming with the latter a wide angle opening medialward. The angle is widest in infancy, and becomes lessened during growth, so that at puberty it forms a gentle curve from the axis of the body of the bone

The Trochanters.The trochanters are prominent processes which afford leverage to the muscles that rotate the thigh on its axis. They are two in number, the greater and the lesser.

The Greater Trochanter (trochanter major; great trochanter) is a large, irregular, quadrilateraleminence, situated at the junction of the neck with the upper part of the body. It is directed a little lateralward and backward, and, in the adult, is about 1 cm. lower than the head. The medial surface, of much less extent than the lateral, presents at its base a deep depression. The trochanteric fossa (digital fossa), for the insertion of the tendon of the Obturator externus, and above and in front of this an impression for the insertion of the Obsturator internus and Gemelli.

A prominence, of variable size, occurs at the junction of the upper part of the neck with the greater trochanter, and is called the tubercle of the femur; it is the point of meeting of five muscles: the Glutus minimus laterally, the Vastus lateralis below, and the tendon of the Obturator internus and two Gemelli above. A slight ridge is sometimes seen commencing about the middle of the intertrochanteric crest, and reaching vertically downward for about 5 cm. along the back part of the body: it is called the linea quadrata.

The Body or Shaft (corpus femoris).The body, almost cylindrical in form, is a little broader above than in the center, broadest and somewhat flattened from before backward below.