The classic: The architecture of the trabecular bone (tenth contribution on the mechanics of the human skeletal framework).

Abstract

Hermann von Meyer may rightfully be considered the original proposer of the concept of trabecular architecture following patterns suggesting the directions of principle compressive and tensile stresses in a similarly shaped trabecular structure. Until the mid 19th Century, few had observed trabecular architecture, and when depicted was generally considered to have little regularity. In the 1830s Bourgery, Ward, and Wyman independently described the regularity of trabecular architecture, but according to Koch (1917) the proposed explanations were in error or overly simplified. Karl Culmann, an engineer and the developer of "graphic statics," attended a lecture of von Meyer and made the connection, which was then developed by the latter in this seminal paper. We present the paper in translation here. The original German article entitled "Die Architectur der Spongiosa" was often written in long, cumbersome sentences, with sometimes obscure meanings. We have taken considerable license in translating, rearranging punctuation, and condensing the material into modern terminology and style, while attempting to maintain the flavor of von Meyer's writing. We thank Dr. Per K. Amundson for the original translation; Drs. John Skedros and Richard Brand made additional suggestions. An accompanying biographical sketch of Hermann von Meyer is available at DOI 10.1007/s11999-011-2040-6.