Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MODERN HUMAN ANATOMY

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 941 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

MODERN HUMAN See also:ANATOMY (Anthropotomy) The See also:history of modern human anatomy in See also:Great See also:Britain begins with the See also:time at which the See also:dissection of the human See also:body became See also:part of the training of students of See also:medicine, and this is one of the greatest debts, though by no means the best recognized, of the many which medical See also:science owes to that remarkable See also:man See also:William See also:Hunter. Before his time the anatomy professors of the most celebrated See also:schools both at See also:home and abroad used one or at most two subjects to illustrate their courses of lectures, and were in the See also:habit of demonstrating the performance of surgical operations not on human bodies but on those of See also:lower animals. Few students dissected the human body, because for such dissection they had no opportunities. The See also:English See also:law, since the time of See also:Henry VIII., allowed only the bodies of persons executed for See also:murder to be dissected, and the See also:supply seems to have been sufficient for the humble needs of the time. The See also:reformation of this antiquated and imperfect See also:system took See also:place in 1747, when Hunter established See also:complete courses of anatomical lectures and opened a school for dissection. The practice of dissection See also:grew so rapidly that by about 1793 there were 200 See also:regular anatomy students in See also:London, while in 1823 their number was computed at about See also:i000. Of course the supply of murderers was not enough for all these students, and the very fact that only murderers were allowed for this purpose made See also:people bitterly hostile to the bodies of their relations and See also:friends being dissected. In accounting for the great aversion which there has always been from dissection in See also:England, it should be remembered that, although See also:capital See also:punishment was the See also:penalty for very many offences at the beginning of the 19th See also:century, only the bodies of murderers were handed over to the anatomists. When once the See also:absolute See also:necessity of a surgeon's having a See also:good knowledge of anatomy was realized, bodies had to be procured at any See also:hazard, and the See also:chief method was to dig them up as soon as possible after their See also:burial. This practice of See also:exhumation or " body-snatching " on a large See also:scale seems to have been See also:peculiar to Great Britain and See also:America, and not to have been needed on the See also:continent of See also:Europe. In See also:France, See also:Italy, See also:Portugal and See also:Austria no popular objection was raised to the bodies of friendless people, who died in hospitals, or of those whose burial was paid for bythe See also:state, being dissected, provided a proper religious service was held over them. In See also:Germany it was obligatory that the bodies of all people unable to pay for their burials, all dying in prisons, all suicides and public See also:women should be given up.

In all these countries the supply was most ample, exhumation was unknown, and the cost of learning anatomy to the students was very moderate. In Great Britain the earlier exhumations seem to have caused very little popular concern; Hunter, it is said, could See also:

manage to get the body of any See also:person he wanted, were it that of See also:giant, See also:dwarf, hunchback or See also:lord, but later, when the number of students increased very rapidly, the See also:trade of " resurrection man " became commoner, and attracted the lowest dregs of the vicious classes. It is computed that in 1828 about 200 people were engaged in it in London alone, though only a few gained their entire livelihood by it. In the first See also:half of the 18th century, and for some time afterwards, the few dissections which were undertaken were carried out in the private houses of medical men. In 1702 a See also:rule was passed at St See also:Thomas's See also:Hospital preventing the surgeons or pupils from dissecting bodies there without the See also:express permission of the treasurer, but by 1780 this rule seems to have lapsed, and a definite dissecting-See also:room was established, an example which: was soon followed by See also:Guy's and St See also:Bartholomew's. In the See also:early years of the 19th century the number of students increased so rapidly that a good many private anatomy schools grew up, and in 1828 we find that the See also:total See also:list of London dissecting rooms comprised those of Guy's, London, St Bartholomew's and St Thomas's hospitals, the See also:Webb See also:Street school of Mr Grainger, the Aldersgate school of Mr See also:Tyrrell, the See also:Windmill Street school where See also:Caesar See also:Hawkins and See also:Herbert See also:Mayo lectured, and the schools of Messrs. See also:Bennett, Carpue, Dermott and See also:Sleigh. These schools needed and, it seems, obtained nearly 800 bodies a See also:year in the years about 1823, when there were nearly i000 students in London, and it is recorded that bodies were even sent to See also:Edinburgh and See also:Oxford. When it is realized that the greater number of these were exhumed, it is easy to understand how hostile the public feeling became to the body-snatchers or " resurrection men," and also in a modified See also:form to the teachers of anatomy and medical students. This was increased by the fact that it soon, became well known that many of the so-called resurrection men only used their calling as a cloak for See also:robbery, because, if they were stopped with a See also:horse and See also:cart by the See also:watch at See also:night, the presence of a body on the See also:top of stolen goods was sufficient to avert suspicion and See also:search. It is in many places suggested, though not definitely stated, that the Home See also:Office authorities under-stood how absolutely necessary it was that medical students should learn the details of the human body, on which they would be called to operate, and that the See also:police had instructions not to interfere more than was necessary with the only method by which that See also:education could be supplied, however unlawful it might be. So emboldened and careless did these body-snatchers become, and so great was the demand for bodies, that they no longer confined themselves to pauper See also:graves, but took the remains of the wealthier classes, who were in a position to resent it more effectually; often they did not even take the trouble to fill in the graves after rifling their contents, and, in See also:con-sequence, many sextons, who no doubt had been bribed, lost their posts, and men armed with firearms watched the London burial-places at night.

The result of this was that the " resurrection men " had to go farther afield, and their occupation was attended with considerable danger, so that the See also:

price of a body gradually See also:rose from £2 to about £14, which seems the maximum ever paid. In addition to this heavy sum the anatomical teachers had to pay the fines of the exhumers when they were caught, or to support their families when they were imprisoned. By 1828 the See also:annual supply of bodies had dropped to about 45o, and about 200 English students were forced each year to go to See also:Paris for their anatomical instruction. There they could get a body for about seven francs and could also be taught by English anatomists who settled in that See also:city for the purpose. As early as about 1810 an anatomical society was formed, to Prench systematic anatomists. Impress on the See also:government the necessity for an alteration in the law, and among the members we find the names of See also:John See also:Abernethy, See also:Charles See also:Bell, Everard Home, See also:Benjamin See also:Brodie, See also:Astley See also:Cooper and Henry Cline. It was owing to the exertions of this body that in 1828 a select See also:committee was appointed by the government to See also:report on the whole question, and to the minutes of See also:evidence taken before this body the reader is referred for further details. The report of this committee Ied to the Anatomy See also:Act of 1832, but there can be little doubt that its passage through the See also:House was expedited by the See also:recent See also:discovery and See also:arrest of the infamous William See also:Burke and William See also:Hare, who, owing to the extreme difficulty of procuring subjects for dissection in Edinburgh and the high price paid for them, had made a practice of enticing men to their lodgings and then drugging and suffocating them in See also:order to sell their bodies to Dr See also:Knox. Hare turned See also:king's evidence but Burke was executed. (See See also:MacGregor's History of Burke and Hare, 1884, See also:Lonsdale's See also:Life and Writings of See also:Robert Knox, 187o. Many further details connected with the See also:condition of anatomy, especially in See also:Dublin, before the passing of the Anatomy Act, will be found in See also:Memoirs of See also:James Macariney by See also:Professor A. Macalister, F.R.S.) The See also:bill to legalize and regulate the supply of subjects for dissection did not pass without considerable opposition.

In 1829 the See also:

College of Surgeons petitioned against it, and it was withdrawn in the House of Lords owing to the opposition of the See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, but in 1832 a new Anatomy Bill was introduced, which, though violently opposed by Messrs See also:Hunt, See also:Sadler and Vyvyan, was supported by See also:Macaulay and O'Connell, and finally passed the House of Lords on the 19th of See also:July 1832. This is the act which governs the practice of anatomy in the See also:British Isles up to the See also:present See also:day, and which has only been slightly modified as to the time during which bodies may be kept unburied in the schools. It provides that any one intending to practise anatomy must obtain a See also:licence from the home secretary. As a See also:matter of fact only one or two teachers in each institution take out this licence and are known as licensed teachers, but they accept the whole responsibility for the proper treatment of all bodies dissected in the See also:building for which their licence is granted. Watching over these licensed teachers, and receiving See also:constant reports from them, are four inspectors of anatomy, one each for England, See also:Scotland, See also:Ireland and London, who report to the home secretary and know the whereabouts of every body which is being dissected. The See also:main clause of the act is the seventh, which says that a person having lawful See also:possession of a body may permit it to undergo See also:ana r.omical examination provided no relative See also:objects; the other clauses are subsidiary and detail the methods of carrying this into effect. In clause 16, however, the old act of Henry VIII. is repealed and the bodies of murderers are no longer to be given up for dissection after See also:execution. There can be little doubt that this act has worked well and with a minimum of See also:friction; it at once did away with body-snatching and crimes like those of Burke and Hare. No licensed teacher now could or would receive a body without a medical certificate and a See also:warrant from the inspector of anatomy, and, when the bodies are buried, a proper religious service, according to the creed professed during life, is provided. The great See also:majority of bodies are those of unclaimed poor in the workhouse infirmaries, but a few are obtained each year from the See also:general hospitals. Occasionally a well-to-do person, following the example of See also:Jeremy See also:Bentham, leaves his body for the See also:advancement of science, but even then, if his relatives See also:object, it is not received. The ample supply of subjects obtained by legitimate means which the anatomy act provided was followed by the opening of anatomical schools at all the great London hospitals and the See also:universities, with the result that anatomical See also:research was stimulated and See also:text-books embodying the latest discoveries were brought out.

It is wonderful, however, how much descriptive anatomy was taught in the days before text-books were See also:

common and how much of what is essential to the study ofsurgery and medicine the students knew. In looking through an old See also:book of anatomical questions and answers dated 1812, one is struck by the fact that any one working through them with the body would probably pass an See also:average modern anatomical examination to-day. The various phases which anatomy in the British Isles has passed through have also been experienced in America, though it is difficult to compare the two countries owing to the fact that each state in the See also:Union makes its own See also:laws as to dissection, and that these vary considerably. The first anatomy act worthy of the name was that of See also:Massachusetts, and was passed in 1831, one year before the British act. There is See also:reason to believe, however, that, in some states, all the evils of body-snatching existed up to the end of the 19th century. In some more enlightened states, such as See also:Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, the modern acts are in advance of the British in that they are mandatory instead of permissive, and their compulsory nature is found rather to reduce than to increase public opposition to dissection. A study of the history of anatomy in the See also:United States during the 19th century furnishes an instructive See also:lesson on the futility of attempting to suppress dissection by legislation and on the serious and some-times terrible crimes to which any such See also:attempt naturally leads. It also teaches that, when unclaimed bodies must be given up and must be treated reverently and buried decently, there is less friction than when public boards have the right of arbitrarily refusing to allow their unclaimed dead to be used for the service of the living. In all the important countries of Europe, with the exception, of See also:Russia and See also:Turkey, anatomy acts exist. They almost all differ from the British act in being mandatory instead of per-missive; in other words, certain unclaimed bodies must be given up to the schools of anatomy. As a rule these come from the general hospitals, but sometimes, as in Germany, Austria and See also:Sweden, suicides are received and form a considerable part of the whole number. Even where executed criminals are available they nowadays form a negligible contribution, but the unclaimed bodies of people dying in See also:prison are provided for in the See also:French, Belgian, See also:Norwegian, See also:Swedish, See also:German and See also:Italian regulations, and in Paris they form an important See also:element of the supply.

In Russia several attempts to gain an anatomy act have been made, but have always been opposed by those in authority, and there. is good reason to believe that bodies are procured by bribing hospital and See also:

mortuary attendants. It is said that the See also:army contributes a large percentage of the total number. In Turkey no facilities for dissecting the dead body exist, as the practice is against the See also:Mahommedan See also:religion; the German pathologists in Turkey, however, insist on making See also:post mortem See also:examinations. In the British colonies anatomical regulations vary a good See also:deal; some-times, as in New See also:South See also:Wales, the act is founded on that of Great Britain and is permissive, but in See also:Victoria the See also:minister may authorize the medical officer of any public institution supported wholly or in part by funds from the general See also:revenue to permit unclaimed bodies to be dissected, provided the persons, during life had not expressed a wish against it. This act in its working is See also:equivalent to a mandatory one, since the See also:power of refusing bodies is not See also:left in the hands of, in this respect, uneducated poor law guardians. In the early years of the 19th century See also:Sir Charles Bell's See also:work on human anatomy is by far the most important in the British Isles. He wrote the See also:article on the nerves in his See also:brother John Bell's work on the anatomy of the human body, as well as his own classical See also:works on the anatomy of expression, the See also:hand and the See also:arteries; but his chief work was the discovery of the difference between motor and sensory nerves. Sir Astley Cooper brought out his beautifully illustrated monograph on See also:hernia in 1807. Besides these, the Edinburgh school had contributed the systematic See also:treatises of See also:Andrew Fyfe, John Bell, the third See also:Monro and John See also:Gordon. In 1828 appeared the first edition of See also:Quain's Anatomy, written by See also:Jones Quain. This monumental work, which is still among the very first of English• text-books, has run through ten See also:editions, and is of even greater value to the teacher and researcher than to the medical student, because of its excellent See also:bibliographies and the way in which it has been kept abreast of modern morphological knowledge by its various editors. Hardly any of the See also:original work now remains.

In 1858 another famous text-book on systematic anatomy appeared, written by Henry See also:

Gray, and this has always been particularly popular with students both in Great Britain and in America; it pays more See also:attention to the surgical applications of anatomy than to the scientific and morphological See also:side, and has reached its sixteenth edition. The Cyclopedia of Anatomy and See also:Physiology, edited by Dr Robert Todd from 1835 to 1859, which contained articles on both human and See also:comparative anatomy, is now somewhat out of date, but did much for the advancement of the science when it appeared. In 1893 a text-book written by several authors and edited by Henry See also:Morris appeared. It has run through three editions and is especially popular in America. The latest English systematic work of first-See also:rate importance is the splendid compilation edited by D. J. See also:Cunningham (1902) and written, with one or two exceptions, by pupils of the See also:veteran anatomist Sir William See also:Turner. It is dedicated to him and will See also:long serve as a memento of the work which he has done in training anatomists for the whole of the British See also:empire. Besides these systematic treatises, many dissecting manuals have been published. The earliest were the Dublin Dissector and the London Dissector; others still in use are those of G. V. See also:Ellis, C.

See also:

Heath, D. J. Cunningham, and J. See also:Cleland and J. See also:Mackay. In 1889 Professor A. Macalister published a book on anatomy, which combined the advantages of a text-book with those of a dissecting See also:guide. In America the English text-books are largely used in addition to that edited by F. H. Gerrish. There is a See also:special See also:American edition of Gray. Many systematic works on modern anatomy have come from Germany.

J. F. Meckel, J. C. Rosenmizller, C. F. See also:

Krause, G. F. See also:Hildebrandt, J. Hyrtl, H. Luschka and A. See also:Meyer have all published works which have made their See also:mark, but by far the most important, and, as some consider, still the best of all anatomical text-books, is that of F.

G. J. See also:

Henle, professor of anatomy in See also:Gottingen, which was completed in 1873. The beautiful illustrations of frozen specimens of the body brought out by W. Braune added a great deal to the student's opportunities of learning the relations of the various structures, and are largely used all over the See also:world. Rudinger's Anatomy also contains many plates showing various sections, but the most complete text-book in the German See also:language is that by Prof. Karl von Bardeleben of See also:Jena; this is in eight volumes and contains notices of the latest literature on descriptive and morphological anatomy by the most prominent German anatomists. In addition to these W. Spalteholz and C. Toldt have brought out valuable atlases. In France J. Testut's and Poirier's anatomies, both of great excellence and beautifully illustrated, are the ones in common use.

There are two See also:

epoch-making See also:dates in the history of modern English anatomy besides that of the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832. The first of these is 1867, when the first See also:volume of the See also:Journal of Anatomy and Physiology appeared. This afforded a See also:medium for English anatomists to publish their original work, besides containing valuable reviews and notices of booksand work published abroad; it has appeared quarterly without a break since that time, and was long under the immediate direction of Sir William Turner. The second date is 1887, when the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded through the exertions of Mr C. B. See also:Lockwood. It meets three times a year in London and once, in the summer, at some provincial school. It See also:numbers some one See also:hundred and fifty members, and enables anatomists from the whole British empire to meet one another and discuss subjects of common See also:interest. Its first See also:president was Prof. See also:Murray See also:Humphry of See also:Cambridge, and its See also:official See also:organ is the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology. No See also:account of modern anatomical work would be complete without See also:drawing attention to the great See also:mass of special periodical literature containing the records of original work which are beingpublished. It is said that some three or four thousand articles on anatomy appear in six hundred See also:journals each year.

To mention a few of these, in addition to the British Journal of Anatomy and Physiology there is an American Journal of Anatomy, the French Bulletin et memoires de la societe anatomique, and La journal de l'anatomie et de la physiologic, and the German Internationale Monatschrift See also:

fur Anatomic and Physiologic, Anatomischer Anzeiger, Waldeyer's Archiv fur Anatomic and Physiologic, Schwalbe's Zeitschrift fidr Morphologic and Anthropologie, See also:Gegenbaur's Morphologisches Jahrbuch, edited by See also:Ruge, and Merkel's Anatomische Hefte. Unfortunately the outlook of anatomy in Great Britain is not altogether satisfactory. The number of subjects for dissection has since 1895 been steadily diminishing, especially in London. This is due partly to the modern system of insuring lives for small sums and so decreasing the number of unclaimed bodies, and partly to the fact that, owing to the permissive nature of the British Anatomy Act, several boards of guardians will not allow even unclaimed bodies to be used for dissection and for the teaching of operative See also:surgery. It is not popularly understood that a dearth of bodies means not only a check to abstract -science, but a serious See also:handicap to medical education, which must react more upon the poor than upon the See also:rich, since the latter can afford to pay for the services of medical men educated abroad, where no difficulties are placed in the way of their learning fully the structure of the body they have to treat in disease. (F. G. P.) ANATOMY-SUPERFICIAL AND See also:ARTISTIC The objects of the study of superficial anatomy are to show, first, the form and proportions of the human body and, second, the See also:surface landmarks which correspond to deeper structures hidden from view. This study blends imperceptibly with others, such as See also:physical See also:anthropology, See also:physiognomy, See also:phrenology and See also:palmistry, but whereas these deal chiefly with See also:variations, superficial anatomy is concerned with the type. With regard to the proportions of the body the artist and anatomist approach the subject from a slightly different point of view. The former, by a See also:process of artistic selection, seeks the ideal and adopts the proportions which give the most pleasing effect, while the latter desires to know only the mean of a large See also:series of measurements. The See also:scheme which Dr See also:Paul Richer suggests(Anatomie artistique, Paris, 1890) ,and Professor See also:Arthur See also:Thomson approves( Anatomy for See also:Art Students, 1896), is to See also:divide the whole body into See also:head-lengths, of which seven and a half make up the stature.

Four of these are above the See also:

fork and three and a half below (see See also:figs. 1 and 2). Of the four above, one forms the head and See also:face, the second reaches from the See also:chin to the level of the nipples, the third from the nipples to the See also:navel, and the See also:fourth from there to the fork. By dividing these into half-heads other points can be determined; for instance the See also:middle of the first head-length corresponds to the eyes, the middle of the second to the See also:shoulder, of the fourth to the top of the See also:hip-See also:joint, and of the fifth to the See also:knee-joint. The See also:elbow-joint, when the arms are by the side, is a little above the lower limit of the third head-length, whilst the See also:wrist is opposite the very centre of the stature, three head-lengths and three-quarters from the See also:crown or the soles. The tips of the fingers reach a little below the middle of the fifth head-length. (In fig. 1 the fingers are See also:bent.) By making the stature eight head-lengths instead of seven and a half the artistic effect is increased, as it is also by slightly lengthening the legs in proportion to the body. Approximate average breadth measurements are two heads for the greatest width of the shoulders, one and a half for the greatest width of the hips, one for the narrowest part of the See also:waist, and three-quarters for the breadth of the head on a level with the eyes. The relation of superficial landmarks to deep structures cannot be treated here in full detail, but the chief points may be indicated. Certain parts of the head may easily be See also:felt through the skin. If the See also:finger is run along the upper margin of the See also:orbit, the notch for the supraorbital See also:nerve may usually be felt at the junction of the inner and middle thirds.

At the See also:

outer end of the margin is its junction with the See also:malar See also:bone, and this easily felt point is known as the See also:external angular process. The junction of the frontal and nasal bones at the See also:root of the See also:nose is the nasion, while at the back of the See also:skull the external occipital protuberance or inion is felt and marks the position of the torcular Herophili, where the venous sinuses meet. The zygoma may be felt See also:running back from the malar bone to just in front of the See also:ear, and two fingers' breadth above the middle of it marks the pterion, a very important point in the localization of intracranial structures. It corresponds to the anterior See also:branch of the middle meningeal artery, to the Sylvian point where the three limbs of the fissure of Sylvius diverge, to the middle cerebral artery, the central See also:lobe of the See also:brain or See also:island of Reil. and the anterior part of the corpus striatum. The fissure of Sylvius can be marked out by drawing a See also:line from the external angular process back through the Sylvian point to the lower part of the parietal See also:eminence. a, Serratus See also:magnus. Dimple over posterior See also:superior (3, Deltoid. spine of ilium. -y, Biceps. y, Lower See also:angle of scapula. b, Poupart's See also:ligament. S, External head of triceps. e, Patella. e, Depression over great tro- T.P. Transpyloric See also:plane. chanter.

S.C. Subcostal plane. I', Popliteal space. I.T. Intertubercular plane. n, Gastrocnemius. The scale between the figures represents head-lengths. The position of the sulcus of Rolando is important because of the numerous cortical centres which See also:

lie See also:close to it. For See also:practical purposes it may be mapped out by taking the superior Rolandic point, in. behind the bisection of a line See also:drawn from the nasion to the inion over the vault of the skull, and joining that to the inferior Rolandic point, which is just above the line of the fissure of Sylvius and 1 in. behind the Sylvian point. The external parieto-occipital fissure, which forms the boundary between the parietal and occipital lobes of the brain, is situated practically at the lambda, which is a hand's breadth (24 in.) above the inion. The lateral sinus can be mapped out by joining the inion to the asterion, a point two-thirds of the distance from the lambda to the tip of the mastoid process; thence the sinus curves down-See also:ward and forward toward the tip of the mastoid process. A point 1 in. horizontally backward from the top of the external auditory meatus will always strike it. Cranio-cerebral See also:topography has been dealt with by See also:Broca, Bischoff, Turner, Fere, Pozzi, Giacomini, Ecker, Hefftler and Hare.

Among the more recent papers are those of R. W. See also:

Reid (See also:Lancet, 27th See also:September 1884), W. See also:Anderson and G. Makins (Lancet, 13th July 1889), Prof. Chiene (detailed in Cunningham's Text-Book of Anatomy), V. See also:Horsley (Am. Journal Med. Sci., 1887), G. Thane and R. Godlee (Quain's Anatomy—appendix to loth edition). D.

J. Cunningham discusses the whole question in his " Contribution to the Surface Anatomy of the Cerebral Hemispheres " (Cunningham Memoirs. No. vii. R. Irish See also:

Academy, Dublin, 1892), and he has prepared a series of casts to illustrate it. The Face.—On the front of the face a line drawn down from the supraorbital notch between the bicuspid See also:teeth to the side of the chin will cut the exit of the second See also:division of the fifth nerve from the infraorbital foramen, a See also:quarter of an See also:inch below the infraorbital margin, and also the exit of the third division of the fifth at the See also:mental foramen, midway between the upper and lower margins of the body of the See also:jaw. In practice it will be found that the angle of the mouth at See also:rest usually corresponds to the See also:interval between the bicuspid teeth. The skin of the eyelids is very thin, and is separated from the subjacent fibrous tarsal plates by the See also:orbicularis palpebrarum muscle. On everting the lids the delicate conjunctival membrane is seen, and between this and the tarsal plates lie the meibomian glands, which can be faintly seen as yellowish streaks. From the See also:free edges of the eyelids come the eyelashes, between which many large sweat-glands open, and when one of these is inflamed it causes a " stye." Internally the two eyelids form a little See also:recess called the See also:internal canthus, occupied by a small red eminence, the caruncula lachrymalis, just external to which a small See also:vertical See also:fold of conjunctiva may often be seen, called the plica semilunaris, representing the third eyelid of birds and many mammals. By gently drawing down the lower eyelid the lower punctum may be seen close to the caruncula; it is the pinhole opening into the lower of the two canaliculi which carry away the tears to the lachrymal See also:sac and duct. On the side of the face the facial artery may be felt pulsating about an inch in front of the angle of the jaw; it runs a tortuous course to near the angle of the mouth, the angle of the nose and the inner angle of the See also:eye; in the greater part of its course its vein lies some distance behind it.

The parotid gland lies between the See also:

ramus of the jaw and the mastoid process; anteriorly it overlaps the masseter to form the socia parotidis, and just below this its duct, the duct of Stensen, runs forward to See also:pierce the buccinator and open into the mouth opposite the second upper molar tooth. The line of this duct may be marked out by joining the lower margin of the tragus to a point midway between the lower limit of the nose and the mouth. The facial or seventh nerve emerges from the skull at the stylomastoid foramen just in front of the root of the mastoid process; in the parotid gland it forms a network called the pes anserinus, after which it divides into six branches which radiate over the face to supply the muscles of expression. The See also:Neck.—In the middle line below the chin can be felt the body of the hyoid bone, just below which is the prominence of the See also:thyroid See also:cartilage called " See also:Adam's See also:apple," better marked in men than in women. Still lower the cricoid cartilage is easily felt, while between this and the suprasternal notch the trachea and See also:isthmus of the thyroid gland may be made out. At the side the outline of the sterno-mastoid muscle is the most striking mark; it divides the anterior triangle of the neck from the posterior. The upper part of the former contains the submaxillary gland, which lies just below the posterior half of the body of the jaw. The line of the common and the external See also:carotid arteries may be marked by joining the sterno-clavicular See also:articulation to the angle of the jaw. The See also:eleventh or See also:spinal See also:accessory nerve corresponds to a line drawn from a point midway between the angle of the jaw and the mastoid process to the middle of the posterior border of the sterno-mastoid muscle and thence across the posterior triangle to the deep surface of the trapezius. The external jugular vein can usually be seen through the skin; it runs in a line drawn from the angle of the jaw to the middle of the clavicle, and close to it are some small lymphatic glands. The anterior jugular vein is smaller, and runs down about half an inch from the middle line of the neck. The clavicle or See also:collar-bone forms the lower limit of the neck, and laterally the outward slope of the neck to the shoulder is caused by the trapezius muscle.

End of Article: MODERN HUMAN ANATOMY

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MODERN HIGH
[next]
MODERN PROVENCAL LITERATURE