566 ANGIOLOGY 



The Internal Carotid Artery (A. Carotis Interna) (Fig. 513). 



The internal carotid artery supplies the anterior part of the brain, the eye and its 

 appendages, and sends branches to the forehead and nose. Its size, in the adult, 

 is equal to that of the external carotid, though, in the child, it is larger than that 



First aortic intercostal 



FIG. 513. The internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Right side. 



vessel. It is remarkable for the number of curvatures that it presents in different 

 parts of its course. It occasionally has one or two flexures near the base of the skull, 

 while in its passage through the carotid canal and along the side of the body of 

 the sphenoid bone it describes a double curvature and resembles the italic letter S. 



