CHAP. XXX. A Description of the Leg taken in general.
AFter the Hand follows the description of the Leg. Wherefore to take away all doubt∣fulness, we will first define the Leg; then divide it into the parts more and less com∣pound; thirdly, we will prosecute all things common to all these parts; fourthly, those which are peculiar to each;* 1.1 and then, God willing, we will give an end to our Anatomy.
Now this word Crus, or leg, is used two manner of wayes, that is, either generally or specially, and specially again after two sorts, that is, either absolutely and simply so, or with an adjunct. It is simply taken for all that which is between the knee and foot. But with an adjunct for the great∣er bone thereof.* 1.2 But the leg taken in general, is the instrument of going, containing all whatso∣ever is from the hips, to the very ends of the toes. It is divided into three great parts, that is to say, the thigh, the leg, or shank, and the foot. By the thigh, we mean, that which lies between the hip and the knee. By the leg, properly so called, or shank, that which is contained between the knee and the foot.* 1.3 By the foot, all from thence to the ends of the toes.
Again, they divide the foot into three parts; that is, the Tarsus or instep, the Pedion or top of the foot, and the Digiti pedum or toes. We understand by the instep, that which is contained in the first seven bones, which answers in proportion to the wrist of the hand. By the top of the foot, that which is comprehended in the five following bones, which is answerable to the after-wrist. That which remains, we call the toes. But because all these parts have other common and pro∣per parts, we will only follow the distribution of the veins, arteries, and nerves; seeing we have sufficiently explained the rest, when we described the containing parts of the body in general.