39 SURGICAL APPLIED ANATOMY. [Chap. xix. 



opening is sometimes indicated by a slight depression 

 in the integuments. It lies just below Poupart's 

 ligament, and its centre is about one and a half inches 

 below and external to the pubic spine. In thin 

 subjects the long saphenous vein can be often made 

 qut, passing to the saphenous opening. 



Jf a. line be drawn from the middle of Poupart's 

 ligament to the tubercle for the adductor magnus, on 

 the inner condyle of the femur, it will correspond 

 in the upper two-thirds of its extent to the position 

 of the femoral artery. Just below Poupart's ligament 

 the femoral vein lies to the inner side o the artery, 

 whjle the anterior crural nerve runs about one- 

 fourth of a.n inch to its outer side. The profunda 

 femoris arises about one and a half inches below 

 Poupart's ligament, and the internal and external 

 circumflex vessels come off about two inches below 

 that structure. 



The head of the femur lies close below the 

 ligament, and just to the outer side of its central 

 point. In very thin subjects this part of the bone 

 can be indistinctly felt through the soft parts when 

 the thigh is extended and rotated outwards. 



The skin over Scarpa's, triangle is, unlike that of 

 the buttock, comparatively thin and fine. The loose- 

 ness of its attachment, also, to the parts immediately 

 beneath, permits it to be greatly stretched, as is seen 

 in cases of large femoral hernise, and in certain inguinal 

 tumours of large size. It may even give way under 

 severe traction, as occurred in a case reported by 

 Berne. The patient in this case was a child aged 11, 

 the subject of hip disease. The thighs were flexed 

 upon the abdomen, and, forcible extension being 

 applied to relieve the deformity, the skin gave way 

 just below the groin, and separated to the extent of 

 some two and a half inches. Contracting scars in the 

 region of the groin may produce a permanent flexing 



