CHAPTER IV. 

 DISSECTION OF THE LOWER LIMB. 



SECTION I. 



THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 



Position. During the dissection of the front of the thigh the body Position of 

 lies on the back, with the buttocks resting on the edge of the table, th 

 and with a block of suitable size beneath the loins. The lower limb 

 should be stretched out on the table, slightly flexed at the knee 

 and rotated outwards to make evident a hollow at the top of the 

 thigh. 



Surface-marking. Before any of the integument is removed from Objects on 

 the limb, the student shoidd observe the chief eminences and hollows th 

 on the surface of the thigh. 



The limit between the thigh and abdomen is marked, in front, by Limits of 

 the firm band of Poupart's ligament reaching from the anterior above! gh 

 superior spine of the ilium to the pubis. On the outer side, the 

 separation is indicated by the convexity of the iliac crest of the hip- 

 bone, which subsides behind in the sacrum and coccyx. Internally 

 is the projection of the pubis, from which the bony margin of the 

 subpubic arch may be traced backwards, forming the inner boundary 

 of the limb, to the ischial tuberosity. 



On the anterior aspect of the thigh, and close to Poupart's liga- Hollow of 

 meiit, is a slight hollow, corresponding with the triangular space o 

 Si.-arpa, in which the larger vessels of the limb are contained ; and 

 extending thence obliquely towards the inner side of the limb, is a 

 slight depression marking the situation of the femoral artery beneath. Groove over 

 The position of the arterial trunk is marked by the upper three- J.^J ral 

 fourths of a line drawn from the centre of the interval between the 

 symphysis pubis and the anterior superior iliac spine to the inner 

 condyle of the femur. 



At the outer side of the hip, from three to four inches below and Position 

 behind the anterior part of the iliac crest, will be recognised the jjj^jjjjter 

 well-marked projection of the great trochanter of the femur. In a 

 thin body the head of the femur may be felt by rotating the limb Head of the 

 inwards and outwards, while the thumb of one hand is placed in femur - 

 front in the hollow below Poupart's ligament, and the fingers behind 

 the great trochanter. 



At the knee the outline of the several bones entering into the Bony 

 formation of the joint may be traced with ease. In front of the 



