GRAY’S ANATOMY - Volume 2 – Osteology

2. Bone: Structure and Physical Properties.—Bone is one of the hardest structures of the animal body; it possesses also a certain degree of toughness and elasticity. Its color, in a fresh state, is pinkish-white externally, and deep red within. On examining a section of any bone, it is seen to be composed of two kinds of tissue, one of which is dense in texture, like ivory, and is termed compact tissue; the other consists of slender fibers and lamellæ, which join to form a reticular structure; this, from its resemblance to lattice-work, is called cancellous tissue. The compact tissue is always placed on the exterior of the bone, the cancellous in the interior. The relative quantity of these two kinds of tissue varies in different bones, and in different parts of the same bone, according as strength or lightness is requisite. Close examination of the compact tissue shows it to be extremely porous...