Part 18
Of the bones of the leg, the inner one, called the tibia, is the more
troublesome to manage, and requires the greater extension; and if
the broken bones are not properly arranged, it is impossible to conceal
the distortion, for the bone is exposed and wholly uncovered with
flesh; and it is much longer before patients can walk on the leg when
this bone is broken. But if the outer bone be broken, it causes much
less trouble, and the deformity, when the bones are not properly set,
is much more easily concealed, the bone being well covered with flesh;
and the patients speedily get on foot, for it is the inner bone of
the leg which supports the most of the weight of the body. For along
with the thigh, as being in a line with weight thrown upon the thigh,
the inner bone has more work to sustain; inasmuch as it is the head
of the thigh-bone which sustains the upper part of the body, and it
is on the inner and not on the outer side of
[p. 189] the thigh, being in a
line with the tibia; and the other half of the body approximates more
to this line than to the external one; and at the same time the inner
bone is larger than the outer, as in the fore-arm the bone in the
line of the little finger is the slenderer and longer. But in the
joint of the inferior extremity, the disposition of the longer bone
is not alike, for the elbow and the ham are bent differently. For
these reasons when the external bone is broken, the patients can soon
walk about; but in fractures of the inner, it is a long time before
they can walk.
