  Eight and twenty bones, 'tis said, Are located in my head. In my trunk are fifty-four That I add to my bone store; While my limbs have plenty more— Full one hundred twenty-four. In my skull, the strong round box Which protects my brains from knocks, There are eight bones in its wall— Glad I have them when I fall! Occipital there is but one; One ethmoid and wedge sphenoid one, One frontal bone not very long— Compared with oak just twice as strong. Parietals there are but two, Two temporals will also do. Fourteen bones are in my face, One lower jaw and upper two Help me each day when I must chew. Two turbinated shaped like cones, Two nasal, malar, palate bones, Two lachrymals and vomer one, But very large bones there are none. The smallest bones are in my ear And help me when I wish to hear. These bones so small, are hard to see— The mallet, anvil, stapes wee. My bony trunk it takes good care Of all the organs hidden there. Its spinal column very long Has six and twenty bones so strong. Small bones just seven it doth take A neck or cervical to make, With dorsals twelve and lumbars five, I surely need if I would thrive; With sacrum one and lots of ribs, Fourteen true and ten called "fibs," One coccyx, sternum, hyoid small, Now in my limbs, just let me see, I own a clavicle or key, A scapula or shoulder blade, And which for gold I wouldn't trade, A humerus not meant for fun, A radius and ulna one. Eight carpals help to form my wrists. Five metacarpals in my fist, While all my fingers have each three Phalanges that are strong but wee, But my poor thumbs can only boast Of two phalanges at the most. My lower limbs are proud to own A sturdy thigh or femur bone. This useful bone is very long And joined by a patella strong To two stout bones within my leg, One like a flute, one like a peg, One as the fibula is known, My instep has just seven tarsals, Shaped À la the eight wrist carpals, While the five bones in my feet With fourteen more the toes complete. Thus each perfect person owns Just two hundred and six bones. |
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