ASCENDING PIIARYNGEAL VESSELS. 109 



end, though it is sometimes very tortuous; and it usually does not furnish 

 any branch. 



Part in the temporal bone. In the carotid canal the winding course of 

 the vessel commences. The artery first ascends in front of the inner ear 

 (cochlea and tympanum) ; next it is directed forwards almost horizontally; 

 and lastly it turns upwards into the cranium opposite the foramen lacerum 

 (basis cranii). Branches of the sympathetic nerve surround the carotid 

 in the bone. 



Whilst in the canal the artery supplies a small branch to the cavity of 

 the typanum. 



'The cranial part of the artery is described with the base of the skull 

 (p. 33). 



The INTERNAL JUGULAR VEIN is continuous with the lateral sinus of 

 the skull, and extends from the foramen jugulare nearly to the first rib. 

 At the lower part of the neck it joins the subclavian to form the innomi- 

 nate vein (p. 79). 



As far as the thyroid cartilage the vein accompanies the internal carotid, 

 but below that point it is the companion to the common carotid artery; 

 and it lies on the outer side of each. Its contiguity to the artery is not 

 equally close throughout, for near the skull there is a small interval be- 

 tween them, containing the cranial nerves; and at the lower part of the 

 neck there is a still larger intervening space, in which the pneumogastric 

 nerve with its cardiac branch is found. 



The size of the upper part of the vein remains much the same till near 

 the os hyoides, where it is suddenly increased by the addition of those 

 branches of the head and neck, corresponding with branches of the exter- 

 nal carotid artery, which do not join the external jugular vein. 1 Its lower 

 dilatation and its valves have been referred to (p. 82). 



The following branches open into the internal jugular, viz., the facial, 

 lingual, thyroid (superior), occipital, and pharyngeal; and at the lower 

 part of the neck it receives the middle thyroid \ ? ein. 



The ascending pharyngeal artery (fig. 25, g) is a long slender branch of 

 the external carotid, which arises near the commencement of that vessel. 

 Directed upwards on the spinal column between the internal carotid and 

 the pharynx, the artery becomes tortuous near the skull, and enters the 

 pharynx above the upper constrictor to end in the soft palate. In the 

 neck the artery gives some small offsets to the surrounding parts, viz., the 

 muscles on the vertebrae, the nerves, and the lymphatic glands. 



A meningeal branch enters the cranium through the foramen lacerum 

 (basis cranii), and is distributed in the dura mater of the middle fossa of 

 the skull ; this is seldom seen in the cranium, because it is but rarely 

 injected. 



The palatine bra?ich, which is larger than the preceding, divides in 

 the pharynx into two main pieces, which are directed across the fore 

 part of the palate beneath the mucous membrane, and form arches with 

 like branches of the opposite side ; one of these is near the upper, and 

 the other near the lower edge of the soft palate. 2 The size of the pala- 

 tine artery depends upon that of the inferior palatine branch of the facial 

 artery. 



1 Sometimes the term internal cephalic is applied to the vein between the skull 

 arid the hyoid bone ; and the name internal jugular, to the part below that bone 

 and the junction of its large branches. 



2 The Anatomy of the Arteries. By R. Quain, F.R.S., p. 110. 



