REGION OF THE KNEE. 259 



punctured wound of the ham which entered the artery, 

 not to involve the vein also. 



Relations of the Popliteal Artery. In front, just be- 

 neath the tendinous arch in the adductor magnus tendon, 

 is the inner side of the femur ; having wound round that 

 bone, it has that portion of it between the bifurcation 

 of the linea aspera in front of it, in the middle of its 

 course the posterior ligament of the articulation, and 

 below, the popliteal fascia. Behind, is the popliteal vein, 

 internal popliteal nerve, aponeurosis; externally, biceps; 

 internally, semi-membranosus. 



The branches of the vessel are the muscular, the su- 

 perior and inferior external and internal articular, and 

 the a/ygos, which pierces the posterior ligament. These 

 vessels maintain a very free anastomosis round the joint 

 amongst themselves, the anastomotica magna, anterior 

 tibial recurrent, and muscular branches. 



Ligature of the popliteal, as a definite operation, is 

 never practiced in modern surgery, for reasons which 

 will be found discussed in works on aneurism. 



The diagnosis of tumors in the popliteal space may, 

 in most instances, be reduced to anatomical principles, 

 thus : such tumors must be either aneurism (circum- 

 scribed or diffused), abscess, enlarged glands, cysts, or 

 growths, &c. In the event of an aneurism, compression 

 of the femoral would empty its sac, and the sound com- 

 municated to the ear by a stethoscope would be of a 

 prolonged, blowing nature. Cysts, such as those al- 

 luded to as connected with the tendons, even if they 

 have a communicated pulsation from being so closely 

 packed together with the vessel, could be dragged away 

 from it, and then these seeming pulsations would cease. 

 In the diagnosis between an abscess and an aneurism the 



