THE JOINTS. 



9 1 



m 



part extends from the fabellae and the femur to the tibia 

 and menisci. 



The external lateral ligament proceeds from the exter- 

 nal tuberosity of the femur to the 

 head of the fibula. The internal 

 lateral ligament, much shorter than 

 the external one, extends from the 

 internal tuberosity of the femur to 

 the internal tuberosity of the tibia. 

 The anterior and capsular ligaments 

 must be cut in order to see the cru- 

 cial ligaments, which are short, and 

 cross each other in the region of the 

 intercondylar notch. The posterior 

 crucial extends from the caudal 

 margin of the head of the tibia to 

 the mesal cephalic angle of the in- 

 tercondyloid notch of the femur. 

 The anterior crucial extends from 

 the summit of the tibia to the cau- 

 dolateral angle of the intercondy- 

 loid notch. The tibiofibular liga- 

 ment is very short, extending from 

 the head of the fibula to the outer 

 tuberosity of the tibia. In addition 

 to these ligaments, there are four 

 bands uniting the menisci to the 

 bones. The menisci or semilunar 

 cartilages are two biconcave cartila- 

 ginous plates, about one millimeter 

 thick) interposed between the con- 

 dyles of the femur and tibia. 



The synovial membrane is a very thin transparent 

 sheet lying within the capsular sheath of the joint. It 



FIG. 46. CAUDAL ASPECT 

 OF KNEE-JOINT WITH 

 CAPSULAR LIGAMENT 

 CUT. 



ac, Anterior crucial liga- 

 ment ; ar, articular sur- 

 face of condyle of tibia ; 

 en, condyle of femur ; cp, 

 capsular ligament cut 

 along the line Ig and re- 

 flected proximad ; ex, 

 external lateral liga- 

 ment; fb, fibula; fin, 

 femur; in, internal lat- 

 eral ligament; Ig, cut 

 edge of capsular liga- 

 ment ; pc, posterior cru- 

 cial ligament; pi, pos- 

 terior external ligament 

 of the meniscus; sm, 

 mesal or internal men- 

 iscus ; sme, lateral or ex- 

 ternal meniscus; tf, tib- 

 iofibular ligament ; tb, 

 tibia. 



