Bone vessels and cartilage. In the human body at birth, there are over 270 bones, but many of these fuse together during development, leaving a total of 206 separate bones in the adult, not counting numerous small sesamoid bones. The largest bone in the body is the femur or thigh-bone, and the smallest is the stapes in the middle ear. The Greek word for bone is ὀστέον ("osteon"), hence the many terms that use it as a prefix – such as osteopathy. Bone is not uniformly solid, but consists of a flexible matrix (about 30%) and bound minerals (about 70%) which
The Bone People The Bone People The Bone People (styled by the writer and in some editions as the bone people) is a Booker Prize-winning 1984 novel by New Zealand writer Keri Hulme. Hulme was turned down by many publishing houses before she found a small publishing house in New Zealand called Spiral. In rejecting the manuscript, William Collins, Sons wrote: Undoubtedly Miss Hulme can write but unfortunately we don't understand what she is writing about. In 1985 Spiral collaborated with English publishing house Hodder & Stoughton. The title "The Bone People" draws parallels between the Māori people, who use bone extensively in