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
Body of pubic bone Body of pubic bone The body of pubic bone forms the wide, strong, medial and flat portion of the pubic bone which unite in the pubic symphysis. The rough superior edge of the "corpus", the pubic crest, ends laterally in the pubic tubercle. This tubercle, found roughly 3 cm from the pubic symphysis, is a distinctive feature on the lower part of the abdominal wall; important when localizing the superficial inguinal ring and the femoral canal of the inguinal canal. Its "internal surface" enters into the formation of the wall of the lesser pelvis and gives origin to a portion