Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c3.2

c3.2

‘The Rabbis declared that there were 248 members (bones) in the human body; namely, 40 in the tarsal region and the foot (30 + 10 = 40); 2 in the leg (the tibia and fibula); 6 in the knee (including the head of the femur and the epiphyses of the tibia and fibula); 3 in the pelvis (ilium, ischium, and pubes); 11 ribs (the 12th rib, owing to its diminutive size, was not counted); 30 in the hand (the carpal bones and the phalanges); 2 in the forearm (radius and ulna); 2 in the elbow (the olecranon and the head of the radius); 1 in the arm (humerus); 4 in the shoulder (clavicle, scapula, caracoid process, and acromion)—which makes 101 for each side, or 202 for both; 18 vertebrae; 9 in the head (cranium and face); 8 in the neck (7 vertebral, and the os hyoides); 5 around the openings [*sic*] of the body (cartilaginous bones); and 6 in the key of the heart (the sternum).’ (Oh. I. 8.)