392 MUSCLES. 



much of the zeal with which the anatomy of hernia has been 

 investigated, in latter years, is attributable to him. The fascia 

 transversalis is a thin tendinous membrane, most generally; oc- 

 casionally it is merely condensed cellular membrane. It arises 

 from the internal or abdominal edge of Pouparfs ligament, and 

 from the crista of the pubes just behind the insertion of the 

 common tendon of the internal oblique and transversalis mus- 

 cles, and is extended upwards on the posterior face of the trans- 

 versalis muscle to the thorax. At its origin it is attached to the 

 inferior edge of the transversalis and internal oblique, particu- 

 larly the part between the internal ring and the symphysis 

 pubis. It is also attached to the exterior margin of the rectus 

 abdominis where it is deprived behind of its sheath. The in- 

 ternal abdominal ring, or opening in this fascia, marks it out 

 in some measure into two portions, of which that on the iliac 

 side of the ring is not so thick as the other, or the one on the 

 pubic side; and both portions are much more tendinous near 

 the crural arch than they are higher up. 



Were it not for the important influence of the fascia superfi- 

 cialis abdominis and the fascia transversalis upon hernia, and 

 the consequent necessity of a minute knowledge of them, their 

 description might be much curtailed in considering them in their 

 proper light, to wit; as sheaths of the abdominal muscles; for 

 it is now sufficiently apparent that the first is contiguous to the 

 external oblique, and the second to the transverse muscle. 

 Upon the same principle, fasciae might be made of all the la- 

 minae of cellular substance intermediate to the abdominal mus- 

 cles, but it would be useless,* 



* A very elaborate and exact account of the construction of the parts concerned 

 in hernia has lately been presented by Alexander Thomson, M. D., under the 

 title of Oiivrage complet sur L'Anatomie du Bas Ventre. Paris, 1838. The cha- 

 racter of this work is not so much inventive as distinguished by great minute- 

 ness of research, and a different distribution of the matter from what is common* 

 together with a most copious supply of new terms in place of old ones. Highly 

 creditable as it is to his industry, we can scarcely do less than protest against 

 the latter irregularity, and express our apprehensions that this objection, together 

 with the unusual approaches which he has opened to the structure as a substi- 

 tute for the settled ones, will restrict very much the reception of his work, and 

 render it less acceptable to both teacher and student. The splitting and inven- 

 tion of fasciae was considered for some time as almost exclusively an Anglican 

 malady; it appears, also, to have propagated itself to Paris in an exasperated 

 form in this production of Mr. Thomson and in that of Mr. Velpeau, (Anatomie 



