VEINS OF THE HEAD AND NECK. 329 



the veins. The external investment of the sinuses of the uterus is 

 the tissue of that organ ; and that of the bones, the lining membrane 

 of the cells and canals. 



Veins, like arteries, are supplied with nutritious vessels, the vasa 

 vasorum ; and it is to be presumed that nervous filaments are dis- 

 tributed to their coats. 



I shall describe the veins according to the primary division of 

 the body ; taking first, those of the head and neck ; next those of 

 the upper extremity ; then those of the lower extremity ; and lastly, 

 the veins of the trunk. 



VEINS OF THE HEAD AND NECK. 



The veins of the head and neck may be arranged into three 

 groups, viz. 1. Veins of the exterior of the head. 2. Veins of the 

 diploe and interior of the cranium. 3. Veins of the neck. 



The veins of the exterior of the head are the 



Facial, 



Internal maxillary, 



Temporal, 



Temporo-maxillary, 



Posterior auricular, 



Occipital. 



The Facial vein commences upon the anterior part of the skull 

 in a venous plexus, formed by the communications of the branches 

 of the temporal, and descends along the . middle line of the fore- 

 head, under the name of frontal vein, to the root of the nose, where 

 it is connected with its fellow of the opposite side by a communi- 

 cating trunk which constitutes the nasal arch. There are usually 

 two frontal veins which communicate by a transverse inosculation ; 

 but sometimes the vein is single and bifurcates at the root of the 

 nose, into the two angular veins. From the nasal arch, the frontal 

 is continued downwards by the side of the root of the nose, under 

 the name of the angular vein ; it then passes beneath the zygomatic 

 muscles and becomes the facial vein, and descends along the ante- 

 rior border of the masseter muscle, crossing the body of the lower 

 jaw, by the side of the facial artery, to the submaxillary gland, 

 and from thence to the internal jugular vein in which it ter- 

 minates. 



The branches which the facial vein receives in its course are, the 

 supra- orbital, which joins 'the frontal vein; the dorsal veins of the 

 nose which terminate in the nasal arch ; the ophthalmic, which com- 

 municates with the angular vein ; the palpebral and nasal, which 

 also open into the angular vein ; a considerable trunk, the alveolar, 

 which returns the blood from the spheno-maxillary fossa, from the 

 infra-orbital, palatine, vidian and spheno-palatine, and joins the 

 facial beneath the zygomatic process of the superior maxillary 



42 



