Bones_hand

Trapezium

The fingers are identified as the index finger or forefinger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger and finally the thumb. The latter is connected to the trapezium and can be rotated 90°, perpendicular to each palm, while all the other fingers only reach a 45° angle. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/anatomy-of-the-human-hand.html)

The Importance and Evolutionary Significance of the Opposable Thumb.

It is often said that the defining trait which separates man from the animals is an opposable thumb. While many may take that remark in jest, there is in fact much truth in it. Without the opposable thumb, human beings might never have attained the highly civilized, sophisticated, and technological lifestyles that many of them enjoy today. Opposable thumbs are required for efficient gripping of objects as well as performing fine manipulations upon them. As soon as man's tools evolved from crude blocks of stone into more refined objects, the skill of refining objects with his hands on a tiny scale became indispensable to him. After all, virtually all of the early accomplishments of human civilization were built through sheer manual labor! (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/261705/the_importance_and_evolutionary_significance.html)

Innovative Implant Eases Thumb Arthritis

When nonsurgical treatments like glucosamine pills or cortisone shots fail, surgery is called for, Weisman says. Most hand surgeons slice a tendon that controls the index finger in half the long way, removing half and leaving half in place. Then they remove the degraded trapezium bone from the wrist, sew the tendon to the thumb's long bone, effectively making it into a ligament. (http://www.healthymagination.com/blog/innovative-implant-eases-thumb-arthritis/)

Hand Lines: Primate Hand vs. Human Hand

(Perhaps not so "scientific" (?) but interesting pictures of different hands of primates.)

"All great apes have oppable thumbs, but none of the primate thumbs is capable of doing precision grips like humans can. And in none of the primates is the thumb as long as the human thumb"... (http://www.handresearch.com/diagnostics/palmar-creases-hand-lines-primatology.htm)

Copyright 2005, Jan A. Nilsson. Web page layout and design © and intellectual property Jan A. Nilsson. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Page created 10.VIII.2005, last updated 08.I.2011, most likely during the wee hours of the morning on a G3 PowerBook owned by Jan A. Nilsson.

-- Disclaimer: "Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice", at the time of writing located as a file under the South Texas College's (STC) web server with the general URL http://southtexascollege.edu/, is the intellectual property of Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, member of STC biology faculty. The content of Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice does not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of the STC faculty, staff, administration, and Board of Trustees.