Patella Patella The patella, also known as the kneecap, is a thick, circular-triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in many tetrapods, such as mice, cats and birds, but not in whales, or most reptiles. In humans, the patella is the largest sesamoid bone in the body. Babies are born with a patella of soft cartilage which begins to ossify into bone at about three years of age. The patella is a sesamoid bone roughly triangular in shape, with the apex of the
Traditional Chinese medicines derived from the human body being are no more used medically, it seems rude to list them as drugs." Note the medical terms "dystocia" "A slow or difficult labor or delivery" and "stranguria" (i.e., "strangury" "A painful, frequent need to urinate, when the bladder is largely empty or with little urine production"). Reflecting the well-known Confucianist inhibition against mutilating one's body (Cooper & Sivin 1973: 212), Li Shizhen's preface to chapter 52 ethically condemns the use of some human drugs. The human is a different species from all the other organisms used as sources of drugs. In later times, Taoist alchemists [方伎之士] considered that many