chap, xx.] THE THIGH. 419 



flaps of integument being torn up in cases of injury to 

 this part of the extremity. 



The fascia lata invests the limb at all parts like 

 a tightly-fitting sleeve. It is thickest at its outer 

 side, where -it forms the dense ilio-tibial band. It is 

 thinnest at the upper and inner aspect of the thigh, 

 where it covers the adductor muscles. It increases 

 considerably in strength as it approaches the front of 

 the knee, and attaches itself to the tibia and lateral 

 margins of the patella. This fascia resists, especially 

 at its outer part, the growth of tumours and abscesses, 

 and limits deep extravasations of blood. It has 

 occasionally been ruptured in part by violence, and 

 through the rent so formed the subjacent muscle 

 has bulged, forming what is known as a hernia of 

 the muscle. This condition has been met with in the 

 case of the quadriceps muscle, and also of the adductor 

 longus. Such " hernise " are probably associated with 

 some rupture of the fibres of the muscles implicated. 

 Two deep processes of the fascia are attached to the 

 femur, and form the outer and inner intermuscular 

 septa. The outer septum separates the vastus 

 externus from the biceps, and the inner the vastus 

 internus from the adductors. Together with the 

 fascia lata, these septa divide the thigh into two 

 aponeurotic spaces, which can be displayed in a 

 transverse section of the limb. These divisions, 

 however, are of little surgical moment, and the inner 

 septum is often so thin and feeble that it could have 

 little effect in directing the course of an abscess. 



In circular amputations of the thigh the muscles 

 are apt to retract a little unevenly, since some are 

 attached to the femoral shaft while others are free. 

 The muscles so attached are the adductors, vasti and 

 crureus, while the free muscles are the sartorius, rectus, 

 hamstrings, and gracilis. 



In spite of its great strength the tendon of the 



