600 THE VASCULAR SYSTEMS 



6. The ascending pharyngeal artery (a. pharyngea ascendens) (Fig. 438 and 

 439\ the smallest branch of the external carotid, is a long, slender vessel, deeply 

 seated in the neck, beneath the other branches of the external carotid and the 

 Stylopharyngeus muscle. It arises from the back part of the external carotid, near 

 the commencement of that vessel, and ascends vertically between the internal 

 en rot id and the side of the pharynx, to the under surface of the base of the skull. 

 lying on the Rectus capitis anticus major muscle. 



Branches. Its branches may be subdivided as follows: 



Prevertebral. Palatine. 



Pharyngeal. Tympanic. 



Meningeal or dural. 



The prevertebral branches are numerous small vessels which supply the Recti 

 capitis antici and Longus colli muscles, the sympathetic, hypoglossal, and vagus 

 nerves, and the lymph nodes. They anastomose with the ascending cervical 

 artery, a branch of the inferior thyroid. 



The pharyngeal branches (rami pharyngei) are three or four in number. Two 

 of these descend to supply the Middle and Inferior constrictors and the Stylo- 

 pharyngeus, ramifying in the substance of the muscles and in the submucous 

 tissue of the mucous membrane lining them. 



The palatine branch varies in size, and may take the place of the ascending 

 palatine branch of the facial artery, when that vessel is small. It passes inward 

 upon the Superior constrictor, and sends ramifications to the soft palate and tonsil. 

 and supplies a branch to theJEustachian tube. 



The tympanic branch (a, tympanica inferior) is a small artery which passes 

 through a minute foramen in the petrous portion of the temporal bone, in com- 

 pany with the tympanic branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve to supply the inner 

 wall of the tympanum and anastomose with the other tympanic arteries. 



The meningeal or dural branches consist of several small vessels, which pass 

 through foramina in the base of the skull, to supply the dura. One, the posterior 

 meningeal or postdural (a. meningea posterior}, enters the cranium through the 

 foramen lacerum posterius; a second passes through the foramen lacerum medium: 

 and occasionally a third through the anterior condylar foramen. 



Applied Anatomy. The ascending pharyngeal artery has been wounded from the throat* 

 as in the case in which the stem of a tobacco-pipe was driven into the vessel, causing fatal hemor- 

 rhage. After removal of the tonsil there is sometimes severe bleeding. This is almost never 

 due to wounding of the internal carotid artery, as the latter vessel, if normally placed, is too 

 far away to be damaged. The bleeding comes from the branches of the ascending pharyngeal, 

 tonsillar, or ascending palatine arteries. 



7. The superficial temporal artery (a. temporalis superficialis) (Figs. 438 and 

 441), the smaller of the two terminal branches of the external carotid, appears, from 

 its direction, to be the continuation of that vessel. It commences in the substance 

 of the parotid gland, behind the neck of the mandible, and crosses over the posterior 

 root of the zygoma, passes beneath the Attrahens aurem muscle, lying on the tem- 

 poral fascia, and divides, about two inches above the zygomatic arch, into two 

 branches, an anterior and a posterior. This vessel is accompanied by the auriculo- 

 temporal nerve. 



Relations. The superficial temporary artery, as it crosses the zygoma, is covered by the 

 Attrahens aurem muscle, and by a dense fascia given off from the parotid gland; it is crossed 

 by the temporofacial division of the facial nerve and one or two veins, and is accompanied by 

 iheauriculotemporal nerve, which lies behind it. 



