394 SURGICAL APPLIED ANATOMY. [Chap. xix. 



reasons can be given why that vessel should be attacked. 

 It is just about to bifurcate into two large trunks, its 

 superficial position exposes it to injury, it is greatly 

 influenced by the movements of the hip, and its coats 

 may even be damaged by those movements, if excessive. 



Phlebitis of the femoral vein has in many cases 

 followed contusion of the vessel in its upper or more 

 superficial part, and a like result has even followed 

 from violent flexion of the thigh. The long saphenous 

 vein is often varicose, and one form of the varicosity 

 is said to depend upon constriction of the vein by an 

 unduly narrow saphenous opening. One sometimes 

 meets with cases in out-patient practice that may 

 probably be due to this cause; but the evidence is not 

 sufficiently weighty to sanction the operation proposed 

 for such cases, viz., an enlargement of the saphenous 

 opening itself. 



The anterior crural nerve lies on the ilio-psoas 

 muscle, and it is said that neuralgia and even para- 

 lysis of the nerve may follow upon inflammation of 

 that muscle and upon psoas abscess. The superficial 

 position of the trunk exposes it to injury. The 

 genito-crural nerve (the nerve that supplies the 

 cremaster muscle) gives a sensory filament to the 

 integument of the thigh in Scarpa's triangle. Irri- 

 tation of the skin over the seat of this nerve, which is 

 placed just to the outer side of the femoral artery, 

 will cause, in children, a sudden retraction of the 

 testicle. The same result is often seen in adults 

 also on slight irritation, and is nearly always provoked 

 by severe stimulation. 



The lymphatic glands in this region are 

 numerous, and as they are frequently the seat of 

 abscess, it is important to know from whence they 

 derive their efferent vessels. They are divided into a 

 superficial and deep set. The superficial set, averaging 

 from ten to fifteen glands, are arranged in two clusters, 



