Materials and methods
Assessment of the dimensions of 2 fingers of
adult subjects
The fingers of 10 male and 10 female subjects .18 years
of age were measured. The midpoint of the intermediate
phalanx of the digitus medius (middle finger) of their
dominant hand (Pfeil et al., 2009) was identified and marked
with a pen. The following 3 measurements were taken at that
point:
1. Height of digitus medius when viewed from a lateral
aspect.
2. Width of digitus secundus (index finger) and digitus
medius side-by-side.
3. Circumference of digitus secundus and digitus medius
side-by-side.
The mean dimensions from these recordings were used
to make a taper gauge, designed as an analog of 2 human
digits side-by-side. This was constructed from 2 tapered
13-mm (in diameter) garden sprinkler spikes (www.wise
wally.com.au) adhered together. The point on their shaft at
which these two cones had an accumulated circumference
of 9.89 cm (mean circumference of digitus secundus and digitus
medius side-by-side) was marked on the resultant probe.