360 THE MUSCLES AND FASCIA 



cord or peripheral nerves. In either case more or less paralysis and atrophy of the affected 

 muscles result. When the degeneration begins primarily in the muscles, however, it often 

 happens that though the muscle fibres waste away, their place is taken by fibrous and fatty tissue 

 to such an extent that the affected muscles increase in volume, and actually appear to hypertrophy. 

 Ossification of muscle tissue as a result of repeated strain or injury is not infrequent. It is 

 oftenest found about the tendon of the Adductor longus and Vastus internus in horsemen, or in 

 the Pectoralis major and Deltoid of soldiers. It may take the form of exostoses firmly fixed to 

 the bone e. g., "rider's bones" on the femur (page 229) or of layers or spicules of bone Iving 

 in the muscles of their fascism and tendons. Busse states that these bony deposits are preceded 

 by a hemorrhagic myositis due to injury, the effused blood organizing and being finally con- 

 verted into bone. In the rarer disease, progressive myositis ossificans, there is an unexplained 

 tendency for practically any of the voluntary muscles to become converted into solid and brittle 

 bony masses which are completely rigid. 



Tendons are white, glistening, fibrous cords, varying in length and thickness, 

 sometimes round, sometimes flattened, of considerable strength, and devoid of 

 elasticity. They consist almost entirely of dense, white fibrous tissue, the fibrils 

 of which run in an undulating parallel course and are firmly united together. 

 They are very sparingly supplied with bloodvessels, the smaller tendons present- 

 ing not a trace of them in their interior. Nerves supplying tendons have special 

 modifications of their terminals, termed neurotendinous spindles or organs of 

 Golgi. 



Aponeuroses are flattened or ribbon-shaped tendons, of a pearly-white color, 

 iridescent, glistening, and similar in structure to the tendons. They are destitute 

 of nerves, and the thicker ones are only sparingly supplied with bloodvessels. 



The tendons and aponeuroses are connected, on the one hand, with the muscles, 

 and, on the other hand, with movable structures, as the bones, cartilages, liga- 

 ments, fibrous membranes (for instance, the sclera). Where the muscle fibres 

 are in a direct line with those of the tendon or aponeurosis, the two are directly 

 continuous, the muscle fibre being distinguishable from that of the tendon only 

 by its striation and increase of muscle nuclei. But where the muscle fibres join 

 the tendon or aponeurosis at an oblique angle the former terminate, according 

 to Kolliker, in rounded extremities, which are received into corresponding de- 

 pressions on the surface of the latter, the connective tissue between the fibres 

 being continuous with that of the tendon. The latter mode of attachment occurs 

 in all the penniform and bipenniform muscles, and in those muscles the tendons 

 of which commence in a membranous form, as the Gastrocnemius and Soleus. 



The fasciae are fibroareolar or aponeurotic laminte of variable thickness and 

 strength, found in all regions of the body, investing the softer and more delicate 

 organs. The fasciae have been subdivided, from the situation in which they are 

 found, into two groups, superficial and deep. 



The superficial fascia (panniculus adiposus] is found immediately beneath the 

 integument over almost the entire surface of the body. It connects the skin 

 with the deep or aponeurotic fascia, and consists of fibroareolar tissue, containing 

 in its meshes pellicles of fat, in varying quantity. In the eyelids and scrotum, 

 where adipose tissue is rarely deposited, this tissue is very liable to serous infiltra- 

 tion. The superficial fascia varies in thickness in different parts of the body: 

 in the groin it is so thick as to be capable of being subdivided into several lamina 1 . 

 Beneath the fatty layer of the superficial fascia, which is immediately subcutaneous, 

 there is generally another layer of the same structure, comparatively devoid of 

 adipose tissue, in which the trunks of the subcutaneous vessels and nerves are 

 found, as the superficial epigastric vessels in the abdominal region, the radial 

 and ulnar veins in the forearm, the saphenous veins in the leg and thigh, and the 

 superficial lymph nodes. Certain cutaneous muscles also are situated in the 

 superficial fascia, as the Platysma in the neck, and the Orbicularis palpebrarum 

 around the eyelids. This fascia is most distinct at the lower part of the abdomen, 

 the scrotum, perineum, and extremities; it is very thin in those regions where 



