460 ARTERIES OF THE LOWER LIMB. 



muscles. They vary in number from two to seven. They supply the 

 sartorius and the vastus internus with other muscles which are close to 

 the femoral artery : their size appears to bear an inverse proportion 

 to that of the descending branches of the external circumflex artery. 



Anastomotic artery. — This branch arises from the femoral 

 artery when in Hunter's canal. It pierces the anterior wall of that 

 canal and descends upon the tendon of the adductor maguus to the 

 inner condyle of the femur, giving off several branches, and covered by 

 some of the fibres of the vastus internus muscle ; it finally anastomoses 

 with the internal articular arteries, and with the recurrent branch of the 

 anterior tibial artery. It gives off the following branches. 



(rtr) A superfcial branch accompanies the long saphenous nerve beneath the 

 sartorius muscle to the integument on the inner side of the knee. 



ip) The c.vtcrnal branch, arising from the lower part of the vessel, crosses 

 over the femur, supplies offsets to the knee-joint, and forms an arch a little 

 above the articular surface, by anastomosing with the superior external articular 

 ai-terj, 



"Varieties of the Femoral Artery and Branches. — 'Tninl:. — Four instances 

 have been recorded of division of the femoral arterj' below the origin of the 

 profunda into two vessels, which subsequently were reunited near the opening of 

 the adductor magnus so as to form a single popliteal artery. In all these cases, 

 the arrangement of the vessels appears to have been similar. To one of them 

 (that first observed) special interest is attached, inasmuch as it was met with in a 

 patient operated upon for popliteal aneurism. (This case was treated by Charles 

 Bell, and recorded in " The London Medical and Physical Journal," vol. Ivi. 

 p. \U. London, 1S2G.) 



The femoral artery is occasionally replaced at the back of the thigh by a trunk 

 continuous with the internal iliac. Having passed from the pelvis through the 

 large sacro-sciatic notch, this trunk accompanies the great sciatic nerve along the 

 back of the thigh to the popliteal space, where its connections and termination 

 become similar to those of the vessel i^resenting the usual arrangement. Four 

 examples of this deviation from the common state of the blood-vessel have been 

 recorded. Reference is made to these in a Paper in vol. ;>(j of the IMedico-Chirur- 

 gical Transactions, giving an account of a specimen of remarkable deformity 

 of the lower limbs of a man in whom the artery was so transjaosed on both 

 sides. 



Ih-anchrs. — The deep feiuond is occasionally given off from the inner side of 

 the parent trunk, and more rarely from the biick part of the vessel. Occasionally 

 it arises at a distance of less than an inch, and sometimes of more than two 

 inches, below Porxpart's ligament. It was even found by Richard Quain arising, 

 in one instance, above Pouparfs ligpment, and in another four inches below it ; 

 but in the latter instance the internal and ex' srnal circumflex arteries did not 

 arise from the profunda. 



The external eirenmfe.r branch sometimes arises directly from the femoral 

 artery ; or it may be represented by two branches, of which, in most cases, one 

 proceeds from the femoral, and one from the deep femoral : both branches, how- 

 ever, have been seen to arise from the deep femoral, and much more rarely, both 

 irom the femoral artery. 



The internal eireinnjle.v branch may be transferi'ed to the femoral artery above 

 the origin of the profunda. Examples have also been met with in which the 

 internal circumflex arose from the epigastric, from the circumflex iliac, or from 

 the external iliac artery. 



Many occasional branches have been seen arising from the femoral, as the deep 

 epigastric or an aberrant obturator ; more rarely an ilio-lumbar or a dorsalis penis, 

 an accessory profunda femoris, or an accessory external circumflex. The ffivat 

 i-aplienous artery is an occasional vessel of some magnitude. It arises, when 

 present, either above or below the origin of the profunda, and running at fu-st 

 between the vastus internus and adductor magnus, it pierces Hunter's canal to 



