424 



THE MUSCLES AND FASCIAE. 



and above the line of the Levator palati. The handle being now alternately raised and 

 depressed, a sweeping cut is made along the posterior surface of the soft palate, and the knife 

 withdrawn, leaving only a small opening in the mucous membrane on the anterior surface. If 

 this operation is performed on the dead body and the parts afterward dissected, the Levator 

 palati will be found completely divided. In the present day, however, this division of the 

 muscles, as part of the operation of staphylorraphy, is not so much insisted upon. All tension 

 is prevented by making longitudinal incisions on either side, parallel to the cleft and just 

 internal to the hamular process, in such a position as to avoid the posterior palatine artery. 



7. Anterior Vertebral Region. 



Rectus capitis anticus major. Rectus capitis lateralis. 



Rectus capitis anticus minor. Longus colli. 



The Rectus capitis anticus major (Fig. 284), broad and thick above, narrow 

 below, appears like a continuation upward of the Scalenus anticus. It arises by 



FIG. 284. The prevertebral muscles. 



four tendinous slips from the anterior tubercles of the transverse processes of the 

 third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cervical vertebrae, and ascends, converging toward 

 its fellow of the opposite side, to be inserted into the basilar process of the occip- 

 ital bone. 



Relations. By its anterior surface, with the pharynx, the sympathetic nerve, 

 and the sheath enclosing the internal and common carotid artery, internal jugular 

 vein, and pneumogastric nerve ; by its posterior surface, with the Longus colli, the 

 Rectus capitis anticus minor, and the upper cervical vertebrae. 



The Rectus capitis anticus minor is a short, flat muscle, situated immediately 

 behind the upper part of the preceding. It arises from the anterior surface of the 

 lateral mass of the atlas and from the root of its transverse process, and, passing 



