Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s1.t1: § 47. The Phalanges

Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s1.t1

Language: English

§ 47. The Phalanges

c7.s1.t1.1

Pāṇi-pād-āṅguli, or phalanges of the hands and feet. Both Atreya-Charaka and Suśruta count sixty of these phalanges,

1-8. Carpus, Kūrca.
1. Scaphoid } Kūrca-śiras.
2. Semilunar }
3. Cuneiform.
4. Pisiform.
5. Unciform.
6. Os magnum.
7. Trapezoid.
8. Trapezium. I-V. Metacarpus, Śalākā. a-c. Phalanges, Aṅguli. S. S. Styloid Processes, Maṇika.

c7.s1.t1.5

1-7. Tarsus, Kūrca.
1. Os calcis, Pārṣṇi.
2. Astragalus, Kūrca-śiras.
3. Navicular.
4. Cuboid.
5. External cuneiform.
6. Middle ,,
7. Internal ,, I-V. Metatarsus, Śalākā. a-c. Phalanges, Aṅguli. M. M. Malleoli, Gulpha.

c7.s1.t1.6

giving three to each finger and toe. The actual number is only fifty-six, there being in reality only two phalanges in the thumb and great toe. Professor Pancoast, however, counts fifteen phalanges in either hand, classing the first metacarpal bone among the phalanges of the thumb,¹ and thus making the total of the phalanges to be fifty-eight. He would seem to consider the trapezium (Fig. 6), one of the carpal bones with which the first metacarpal articulates, to be the real metacarpal of the thumb, and the real homologue of the metacarpals of the other four fingers. According to the usual view the clusters of carpal and tarsal bones contain eight and seven bones respectively. Professor Pancoast’s theory would equalize their numbers by the exclusion of the trapezium. It is interesting to observe that Chakrapāṇidatta’s somewhat obscure remarks on the phalanges seem to indicate his having held a similar view. For he says (§ 11): ‘As to the third joint of the thumb and great toe, it must be understood to be contained within the respective hand or foot,’ that is, within the palm or sole or, in other words, among the metacarpal or metatarsal bones. And he adds: ‘The long bones belonging to the thumb and great toe are also of small size’; that is, he appears to have identified the trapezium as the first metacarpal, and the internal cuneiform bone of the tarsus (Fig. 7) as the first metatarsal. How far the explanation of Chakrapāṇidatta may be the survival of an ancient tradition going back to the time of Atreya and Suśruta, it is, at present, impossible to say. But on the whole it seems more probable that the reckoning of sixty phalanges by the ancient Indian anatomists is based on fancied claims of symmetry (§ 44).

c7.s1.t1.7

¹ Dr. Potter’s Compend of Human Anatomy, pp. 49, 50.

Linked texts (2)

Carakasaṃhitā — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit
Suśrutasaṃhitā — Suśruta & Nāgārjuna (siddha/alchemist), Sanskrit