600 



DISSECTION OF THE THIGH. 



Fig. 204. 



Muscular branches of the profunda (fig. 203, f) pierce the adductor 

 magnus internal to the preceding, and at some distance from the femur. 

 Three or four in number, the highest appears about five incites from the 

 pelvis, and the rest in a line at intervals of about two inches from one 

 another : they are distributed to the hamstring muscles, especially the 

 semimembranosus, and communicate below with offsets of the popliteal 

 trunk. 



The HIP-JOINT (fig. 204). This articulation is a ball and socket joint, 

 the head of the femur being received into the acetabulum or the cup- 

 shaped hollow of the innominate bone. Connecting the bones are the fol- 

 lowing ligaments : one to deepen the receiving cavity, which is named 

 cotyloid ; another between the articular surfaces of the bones the inter- 

 articular ; and a capsule around all. 



Dissection. The muscles are to be taken away from the back of the 

 hip-joint, and the upper and lower attachments of the capsular ligament 

 are to be especially cleared from areolar tissue. 



Next, the front of the joint should be cleaned and examined in the 



same manner, with the body 

 turned over for a short time, if 

 this change in position does not 

 interfere with the other dissec- 

 tions. 



In the capsule itself the stu- 

 dent has to define a wide thick 

 part in front, and a transverse 

 band near the neck of the femur 

 behind. 



The capsular ligament (fig. 

 204) is a thick fibrous case, which 

 is strong enough to check the 

 movements of the joint. Its up- 

 per margin is attached to the 

 circurnfererence of the acetabu- 

 lum at a short distance from the 

 edge, as well as to a transverse 

 ligamentous band over the notch 

 at the inner side of the cavity. 

 Its lower margin is inserted in 

 front into the anterior intertro- 

 chanteric line (fig. 204) ; behind, 

 by a very thin piece, into the 

 neck of the femur about a finger's 



FORE PART OF THE CAPSULE OF THE HlP-JOINT. , IIP ,1 11 i 



breadth from the small trochanter 



a. riio-femoral ligament. , ' , . A 



b. Pubio-femorai edge or band. Jlll(l the posterior intertrochan- 



c. iiio-trochauteric band, teric line (fig. 20o) ; and above, 



into the neck, near the great tro- 

 chanter. The capsule differs much in strength, and in the arrangement 

 of the fibres at the fore and hinder surfaces. 



On the front it is strengthened by a wide layer of longitudinal fibres 

 (fig. 204, a, b, c). The central portion the ilio-femoral ligament (a), 

 is fixed above by a narrow piece to the lower anterior iliac spinous pro- 

 cess, and below where it widens, into the anterior intertrochanteric lino. 

 By its strength it can arrest extension of the joint ; and the femur being 



