CAROTIDS, AND THEIR BRANCHES. 20 1 



buting continually its twigs on each margin, and ends there by 

 anastomosing with the corresponding artery of the other side. 







The Facial Artery (Arteria Facialis, Maxillaris Externa) 



arises from the external^ carotid two or three lines above the 

 lingual, and is spent principally on the side of the face below 

 the eye. It is of considerable size, and very tortuous ; its root 

 is concealed by the stylo-hyoid and the digastric muscle, and it 

 is traversed externally by the hypo-glossal nerve. It goes for- 

 ward within the angle of the lower jaw, and above the sub- 

 maxillary gland, but very much connected with it: it then 

 mounts over the base of the maxilla inferior, at the anterior 

 margin of the masseter muscle, and afterwards shapes its 

 course, in a serpentine manner, to the internal canthus- of the 

 eye, passing between the muscles and the integuments of the 

 face. In this course, the facial artery sends off the following 

 branches: 



As it passes by the submaxillary gland it sends several twigs 

 to it : previously it also sends several little branches to the con- 

 tiguous muscles, as the internal pterygoid, di ~< tr[r- f and so on; 

 but they are too small to be of much const 



The Submental branch arises, then, on ^ ' ;h the base 



of the lower jaw ; it advances forwards under ^e origin of the 

 mylo-hyoides, and above the anterior belly of the digastricus. 

 It sends several ramuscles to these muscles, some of which 

 anastomose with the ranine artery; behind the symphysis of the 

 jaw it anastomoses with its fellow, it then mounts over the chin, 

 to which and to the lower lip it is distributed, anastomosing 

 there with the inferior coronary artery of the mouth, and with 

 the inferior maxillary which comes out from the anterior men- 

 tal foramen in the lower jaw. 



When the facial artery has got upon the face, it sends back- 

 wards a small branch to the lower part of the masseter muscle. 

 Somewhat above this it sends forwards a branch called the In- 

 ferior Labial, which is distributed upon the middle of the chin. 

 When it gets on a level with the corner of the mouth, but some- 

 times lower down, it sends forward, under the depressor anguli 

 oris, the Inferior Coronary Artery, to the lower lip, which fre- 

 quently supplies the place of the inferior labial entirely; but when 

 the latter is large, the coronary is small in proportion : a few 



