Skip to main content

1829KühnCG

 

Fragments from the book Kühn CG. Clavdii Galeni Opera omnia (1829). Galen writes about anatomy, topography, function, changes in painful conditions and injuries of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF), as well as the first method of conservative treatment of its pathology. See our commentary at the link: 1829KühnCG [Rus], and 2020ArkhipovSV_ProlyginaIV


Quote 1.

[Grc]

Ιπποκρατογσ το Περι αρθρων βιβλιον και Γαληνογ εισ αυτο υπομνηματα τεσσαρα [υπομνημα πρώτον]. Κεφγʹ.

του τε μηρου την κεφαλήν έχοντος μικραν και τον αυχένα προμήκητην δυποδεχομένην αυτόν κοτύλην βαθείανόφρύσιν αξιολόγοις στεφανωμένηνμετά του και σύνδεσμον ισχυρότατον κατάκραν αυτού την κεφαλήν τώ βαθυτάτω χωρίω της κοτύλης την σύμφυσιν έχεινεικότως ούν ολιγάκις ο μηρός εκπίπτειπλειστάκις δε ο βραχίωνως αν μήτε τον σύνδεσμον έχων μήτεγκαταβαινων βαθεία κοιλότητι. (original source: 1829KühnCG, pp. 310-311)

[Lat]

Hippocratis de articulis liber Galeni in eum commentarii quatuor [commentarius primus]. Cap. III.

femur vero caput parvum habet et cervicem oblongam, id vero cavum quo recipitur valde sinuatum est et altis labris cingitur, adde quod in summo capite per validissimum ligamentum ad suum cavum, qua maxime altum est, destinetur. Jure itaque femur raro procidit, saepe humerus, ut qui neque ligamentum habeat, neque in altiori cavo se insinuet. (original source: 1829KühnCG, pp. 310-311)

Quote 2.

[Grc]

Ιπποκρατουσ το περι αρθρων βιβλιον και Γαληνου εισ αυτο υπομνημα τεταρτονΚεφμʹΜηρού δέ ολίσθημα κατισχίον ώδε χρή έμβάλλεινήν ές τὸ εϊσω μέρος ώλισθήκη(original source: 1829KühnCG, pp. 731-736)

[Lat]

Hippocratis de articulis libеr et Galeni in eum commentarius quartus. Cap. XL. Ubi femur a coxa elabatur, si in interiorem partein venerit, hac via restituendum est. (original source: 1829KühnCG, pp. 731-736)


Translation

[Eng]

Quote 1.

Commentary on Hippocrates’ On Joints, I. Chapter 3.

The thigh bone has a small head and an elongated neck. It is located in the acetabulum, which is [quite] deep and surrounded by protruding edges; and at the top of its head [there is] a strongest ligament connecting with the acetabulum in the deepest place. That is why the femur is rarely dislocated as opposed to the shoulder that has no ligament and does not enter a deep cavity. (original source: 2020ArkhipovSV_ProlyginaIV).

Quote 2.

Commentary on Hippocrates’ On Joints, IV. Chapter 40. On how to reduce a hip dislocation when it is displaced inward.

If the femur comes out of the hip joint and is displaced inward, it must be returned to its place. Hippocrates was blamed for setting the thigh back because it was immediately displaced; and the first to do this was Ctesias of Cnidus, his relative - for he too was descended from the family of the Asclepiades - and after Ctesias some others. Since the judgment on all these things can be of two kinds: first, when someone is an eyewitness of the matter under investigation, and secondly, when someone, without waiting for long experience, by means of the demonstrative method discovers something from the nature of the matter, therefore we will turn to both kinds of judgment. And behold, the nature of this thing is this. In this joint, the ligament [of the femoral head] is extremely strong, rounded and hidden in it, connecting the top of the femoral head with the deepest inner part of the acetabulum. Therefore, without even seeing the ligament itself, but based only on this reasoning, we can understand that it is short: since the hip always rotates - as Hippocrates said: «it rotates in the pelvic bone» - and never leaves the acetabulum, the ligament ought to be very short. And so, it is the ligament that prevents the hip from being dislocated, at least while it is in its natural state. And not only can the ligament rupture, but also, due to the abundance of fluid that has unnaturally accumulated in the cavity [joint], become so sprain (stretched) that it sometimes allows the femur to dislocate from its natural place. And if, due to a rupture of the ligament, the hip is dislocated, then even with immediate setting it will not be able to remain in its place. Since the acetabulum is sloping and <to this is added> the great weight of the entire leg, the hip will easily immediately come out of place if someone tries to walk a little faster or step over something under his feet. Thus, if someone were to make small movements with the thigh on a level surface, it could always maintain its natural position, but this is apparently impossible. For even if a person could do nothing else, he would certainly be forced to lift his legs to enter the bath. This is how the nature of things teaches us that with a torn ligament, the re-set hip cannot remain in its place. It should also be added that on the outside of the knee joint there are several tendon ligaments and in the hip joint there is only this ligament, since neither anything of this kind, nor any muscles support the joint from the outside. For muscles also contribute greatly to the fact that joints do not dislocate so easily, especially when the muscles are strong and tense. Thus, in athletes and those who endure the strongest blows, falls, stretches and twists of the joints during wrestling, the limbs do not dislocate, because they are supported on all sides by strong and large muscles. And Hippocrates himself said at the beginning of this book that even in bulls it is the hip that get dislocated when they grow old and lose weight, because when the ligament of the hip is torn, the thigh cannot remain in the joint in its place even in after setting, the thing that especially applies to the emaciated [animals]. Next, let's look at what can happen if the ligament, weakened due to the abundance of fluid [in the joint], allows the hip to dislocate, but then it is re-set. It seems to me that it is quite obvious that in the presence of fluid the joint will dislocate again, and when it dries up, it will regain its natural strength. And the fact that dislocation of the hip can happen due to the fluid can be learned from Hippocrates himself, who writes in the “Aphorisms” thus: "Whoever, due to the chronic sciatica, has the femoral head dislocated and re-set again, will have an accumulation of mucus formed there". And when mucus builds up in the joint, then the ligament softens and weakens as a result. And it does not matter whether you call it a ligament (σύνδεσμον) or a connecting sinew (νεῦρον συνδετικόν). For those ligaments that have a rounded shape like tendons are usually called connecting sinews by the anatomists. And we have already righted this kind of hip dislocation twice, and it did not dislocate again. Drying medications should be applied over the joint for a long time until the connective sinew is dry enough to stop stretching together with the thigh bone extending beyond the edge of the acetabulum and keep it in its natural position. And that the hip sometimes remains set, there is a most reliable witness, Heraclides of Tarentum, a man who did not lie for the sake of the teaching of [his] school, as many of the dogmatists would have done, and was not ignorant of [medical] art, but, like no other, devoted much time to medical practice. Let us listen to his words, which he wrote in the fourth book of "On External Therapy." He says literally the following: «Those who believe that the hip does not remain set because the ligament (νεῦρον) connecting the femur to the acetabulum is torn, do not know things of general knowledge, when expressing their negation. For neither Hippocrates nor Diocles would have described the reductions, and neither would Phylotimus, Evenor, Nileus, Molpis, Nymphodorus and some others. And we have achieved this goal [reduction] in two children, although in adults the joint is dislocated again more often. This case should be judged not from hearsay, but since the thigh sometimes remains [set], it must be assumed that this ligament does not always rupture, but that it stretches and contracts again, for the study [of this question] is useful, but not in all cases». Heraclides added these words at the end of the argument in defense of his empirical school. And the empiricists have this proposition: it is useless to investigate the cause of those things that can be clearly observed and from which we can immediately derive benefit for the [medical] art. But even after Heraclides, many other younger doctors noted that the hip they had set remained so forever. (original source: 2020ArkhipovSV_ProlyginaIV, + machine translation into English from our article 2019АрхиповСВ_ПролыгинаИВ based on the Greek text from by 1829KühnCG and minor edits).









External links

Kühn CG. Clavdii Galeni Opera omnia. Editionem cvravit D. Carolvs Gottlob Kühn, professor physiologiae et pathologiae in literarvm vniversitate Lipsiensi pvblicvs ordinarivs etc. Vol. XVIII. Pars I. Lipsiae: Prostat in officina libraria Car. Cnoblochii, 1829. [archive.orgbabel.hathitrust.org]

Arkhipov SV, Prolygina IV. Ancient Textual Sources on Ligamentum Teres: Context and Transmission. MLTJ. 2020;10(3):536-546. [mltj.online , mltj.online(PDF) , researchgate.net]

Архипов СВ, Пролыгина ИВ. Гален о вывихе бедра и связке головки бедренной кости. Opera medica historica. Труды по истории медицины. Альманах РОИМ. 2019;4:89-96. [Arkhipov S.V., Prolygina I.V. Galen o vyvikhe bedra i svyazke golovki bedrennoi kosti. Opera medica historica. Trudy po istorii meditsiny. Al'manakh ROIM. 2019;4:89-96. (In Russ.)]    [researchgate.net ; kias.rfbr]

Authors & Affiliations

Karl Gottlob Kühn (1754-1840) was a German physician and medical historian. [wikipedia.org]

Karl Gottlob Kühn 
Unknown author;
 original in the wellcomecollection.org collection
(CC-BY-4.0,
 no changes).


Galen (Κλαύδιος Γαληνός, Aelius Galenus, Claudius Galenus, Γαληνός ὁ Περγαμηός, Galenus Pergamenus, Galen of Pergamon; 129–210/217) was a Roman and Greek physician, surgeon, anatomist, and philosopher. [wikipedia.org]

Galen
Engraver Georg Paul Busch (18th cent.);
original in the 
wikipedia.org collection (CC0 – Public Domain, no changes).


Keywords

ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, anatomy, synonym, role, properties, attachment, treatment, pathology, damage, Galen 

                                                                    

NB! Fair practice / use: copied for the purposes of criticism, review, comment, research and private study in accordance with Copyright Laws of the US: 17 U.S.C. §107; Copyright Law of the EU: Dir. 2001/29/EC, art.5/3a,d; Copyright Law of the RU: ГК РФ ст.1274/1.1-2,7

BLOG CONTENT

 ANCIENT MENTIONS

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

INFERIOR PORTAL FOR HIP ARTHROSCOPY

  Combined PDF version of the article: Arkhipov SV. Arkhipov SV. Inferior Portal for Hip A rthroscopy: A Pilot Experimental Study. This page contains a photocopy of the publication. The links for downloading the PDF version and the addresses of the online versions are given below.  The original in Russian is available at the link: Нижний портал для артроскопии тазобедренного сустава . 

2000-1600bcBM29663

  Fragment of the text of clay tablet BM 29663 (Mesopotamia, 2000-1600 BC). In the list of body parts of a sheep, the author indicates ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF). See our commentary at the link: 2000-1600bcBM29663 [Rus]. Quote [Akk] Clay tablet BM 29663 (original source: photo - British Museum  britishmuseum.org , text - 2018CohenY , p. 134). Translation [Eng] List of Sheep Body Parts ( с lay tablet BM 29663, obverse) 10. ni-im-šu → nimšu, “sciatic nerve”, “sinew” . ( original source: 2018CohenY , p. 135). ( original source: British Museum  britishmuseum.org ,  CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)  External links Clay tablet; museum number 29663; registration number 1898,1115.49. Middle East, Old Babylonian period (2000-1600 BC). [ britishmuseum.org  ,  cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de ] Sigrist M, Zadok R, Walker C. Catalogue of the Babylonian tablets in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Babylonian tablets in the British Museum. London: British Museum Press, 2006. ...

Inferior Portal. Part 1.

  Original in Russian is available at the link:  Нижний портал. Часть 1.  below is a machine translation edited by a non-native speaker  ( version dated 03/02/2025 ) .     INFERIOR PORTAL FOR HIP ARTHROSCOPY: A PILOT STUDY PART 1. Background and Hypothesis Arkhipov S.V., Independent Researcher, Joensuu, Finland Abstract: The article presents, theoretically and graphically substantiates the technique of a new arthroscopic approach to the central compartment of the hip joint. It is proposed to introduce the optical system of the arthroscope from below through the acetabular notch without traction. Similar approaches were used for puncture, arthroscopy, arthrography, and arthrotomy of the hip joint. Diagnostics using the described lower portal will exclude complications caused by distraction of the leg and compression of the perineal support during surgery.   CONTENTS PART 1. Background and Hypothesis [1] . Introduction [2] . Passage through t...

Online Journal «ABOUT ROUND LIGAMENT OF FEMUR», February 2025

    SCIENTIFIC THEMATIC ONLINE JOURNAL « About Round Ligament of Femur » February, 2025 The publication is dedicated to the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) and related topics.   About the Journal The online journal  « About Round Ligament of  Femur »   was created based on the scientific blog of the same name. Updates: As new materials are prepared. Purpose: Popularization and preservation of knowledge about LCF, as well as promoting its practical application. Main goal: Improvement of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of injuries and diseases of the hip joint.   Announcements 25.02.2025 A Facebook group « LIGAMENTUM CAPITIS FEMORIS »  has been created.  26.02.2025 The scientific blog « About Round Ligament of Femur » has been transformed into an online journal of the same name.   Surgical Treatment INFERIOR P...

3-1cent.bcSeptuaginta

Fragment of the Septuagint Genesis (LXX, Γένεσις ; 3-1 cent. BC). The text in ancient Greek contains references to the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) of an animal and a human. See our commentary at the link: 3-1cent.bcSeptuaginta [Rus]. Quote [Grc] LXX . Γένεσις 32:33 ἕνεκεν τούτου οὐ μὴ φάγωσιν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ τὸ νεῦρον , ὃ ἐνάρκησεν , ὅ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοῦ πλάτους τοῦ μηροῦ , ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης , ὅτι ἥψατο τοῦ πλάτους τοῦ μηροῦ Ιακωβ τοῦ νεύρου καὶ ἐνάρκησεν . (original source: 1883 deLagardeP, p. 32 ) Translation [Eng] Septuaginta . Genesis 32:32(33) Therefore the children of Israel will by no means eat of the sinew which was benumbed, which is on the broad part of the thigh, until this day, because the angel touched the broad part of the thigh of Jacob — even the sinew which was benumbed.  (original source: 1900 BrentonLCL , p. 44) External links Septuagint. Genesis. Alexandria,  3-1 cent. BC. de Lagarde P. Libri veteris Testamenti canonici Librorum veteris Testamenti c...

1012-1024Avicenna

  Fragment from the book Avicenna. Canon of Medicine (1012-1024). The author writes about the localization and variant of the pathology ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF), leading to hip dislocation.  See our commentary at the link:   1012-1024Avicenna [Rus]. Quote. [Lat] Canon Medicinae . Lib. III. De doloribus iunctura… L. V. (original source: 1476Avicenna, p. 191, fragment) Quote . [ Rus ] Канон врачебной науки. Книга 3. Том 2. Часть 22. Заболевания внешних и конечных органов. Статья 2. Боли в этих органах, §3. Боли в суставах и то, что является общим для подагры, воспаления седалищного нерва и тому подобного (332a). Материя при воспалении седалищного нерва чаще всего пребывает в суставе и просачивается из него в широкий нерв; когда [нерв] испытывает боль, это предрасполагает его к [приему других] соков, изливающихся к нему сверху из всего тела, кроме тех, которые были заперты вначале. А бывает и так, что материя [первоначально] находится не в суставе, а в широком нер...

2020ArkhipovSV_ProlyginaIV

  Ancient Textual Sources on Ligamentum Teres: Context and Transmission S.V. Arkhipov, I.V. Prolygina   KEYWORDS: ancient medicine; ancient traumatology; Galen; Hippocrates; hip joint; ligamentum capitis femoris; ligament of head of femur; ligamentum teres. SUMMARY Background. One of the least researched anatomical structures of the human body is the ligament of head of femur, most often referred to as ligamentum teres. The history of the nomination of this term, medical contexts of its use, the etymology and the first synonyms (Figure 1) are not sufficiently understood. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to present the most complete collection of evidence from ancient medical authors about the term ligamentum teres, trace the history of its nomination and analyze the gradual changes in the level of knowledge about the anatomy, mechanical and geometric properties of this structure, its pathology and treatment methods. Methods. The study is based on an inter...

LCF of Pithecanthropus

  The hip joint of Pithecanthropus erectus (Homo erectus) had a ligament of the head of the femur, in Latin called the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF). The femur of a male specimen was first discovered in 1892 by Eugène Dubois (1858-1940) on the island of Java (2004DeVosJ). The age of the sediment preserving the remains of the Java Man is estimated to be approximately in the range of 540-430 thousand years (2015JoordensJC_RoebroeksW). On the femoral head, a deep pit of the femoral head is noticeable—the trace of the distal attachment of the LCF ( sketchfab.com ). The location of the pit on the femoral head of Pithecanthropus is identical to that of Homo sapiens. In light of this, we assume that the Java Man walked similarly to anatomically modern humans. Illustration: Pithecanthropus had LCF The left femur of Java Man (Pithecanthropus erectus, Homo erectus), specimen from the Darwin Museum (Moscow); view from the medial side (photo by the author). The arrow indicates the fossa of ...

2008HeinerG

  Invention (Patent Application Publication): Heiner G. Implant as an intermediate layer between articulating joint surfaces. DE102007018341A1 (2008). [ translated from German ]   DE102007018341A1 Germany Inventor: Heiner Genrich Current Assignee: Individual Worldwide applications 2007 DE Application DE102007018341A events: 2007-04-13 Application filed by Individual 2007-04-13 Priority to DE102007018341A 2008-10-16 Publication of DE102007018341A1 Status: Ceased   Implant as an intermediate layer between articulating joint surfaces Heiner Genrich   Abstract A surgical implant is an interface between two articulated surfaces together forming a ball and socket joint. The articulation surface (1) and the facing bone surface (2) whose edge (13) is thinner than the centre section (15). The surface (2) matches that of the damaged bone surface. Description The The invention relates to an implant as intermediate between articulating articular surfaces, wherein the intermed...

1910FickR

  In the second volume of the «Handbuch der anatomie des menschen», devoted to general joint mechanics and muscles (Zweiter Teil: Allgemeine Gelenk- und Muskelmechanik, 1910), the author discusses the function of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF). This book is not yet available to us. Therefore, we publish only quotes from the first volume. The translation was done in collaboration with ChatGPT 3.5.   Fick R. Handbuch der Anatomie und Mechanik der Gelenke: Erster Teil: Anatomie der Gelenke. Jena: G. Fischer, 1904. [fragments] Quote p. 330 2 – 3 cm langer, platter, schmächtiger Strang, der am unteren medialen Teil der Kapselwand zwischen Pubo- und Ischiofemoralband entspringt und in das Binnenband übergeht. Auch wenn diese Nebenwurzel nicht als ein deutlich isolierbarer Strang ausgebildet ist. bezieht das Binnenband doch stets wenigstens einige Fasern unter dem Querband hindurch von der Kapseloberfläche (so daß ...