87 



is no more embedded in the Parotid, than is the Facial Artery in the 

 Submandibular Gland. 



We are aware of the discrepancy between these statements and 

 those of other writers yet no other account is possible from our care- 

 ful investigations of the specimens removed by us. This conception is 

 borne out by fig. 9 of Symington and particularly in the magnificent 

 sections figured by Poieier (pp. 670, 672 of his Anatomie) also the 

 figures in Testut already referred to. The illustrations found in certain 

 treatises suggest that these vessels may sometimes be completely en- 

 closed in gland substance (vide fig. 208 of Testut ; Bkaune's figure 7). 



Yet we believe that the course of the vein and more especially 

 the artery in a groove of varying depth, has not before been suf- 

 ficiently insisted upon and was one of the most striking features 

 of our specimens (see also Birmingham's figure loc. sup. cit). 

 PoiEiEii mentions this relationship of the artery and quotes Teiquier's 

 researches in reference to it. This observer found it running some- 

 times in a gutter and sometimes quite free but Poieier himself agrees 

 with Sappey and Richet in believing this to be rare. It is not poss- 

 ible entirely to remove either artery or vein from its groove owing 

 to the fine vessels which they furnish to the gland substance and to 

 the intimate connection of the mesodermal vascular sheaths and the 

 capsule of the gland. 



"We have nothing to add to the usual accounts of the Facial 

 Nerve traversing the gland. 



The extrinsic vascular and nerve relationships of the gland, viz. : — 

 Internal Carotid Artery, Internal Jugular Vein and the cranial nerves 

 emerging from the jugular foramen lie entirely outside the actual 

 Parotid bed and have no very intimate relationship with the gland. 

 These relations are well shown in figs. 383 and 384 of Poirier (2) 

 and in our own transverse sections through this region. 



We have not thought it necessary to picture or describe the 

 Parotid bed as both are so admirably done by Poirier. 



This bed is not to be regarded as a rigid cavity of unvarying 

 dimensions. It undergoes changes in form and size during the 

 physiological conditions of daily life and during the processes of devel- 

 opment and growth of the body tissues. With every movement of the 

 lower jaw and in certain movements of the head the parotid bed 

 shows variations in size. The contained gland being of a compress- 

 ible nature easily follows and adapts itself to such changes. 



