248 SUPERIOR THYROID. LINGUAL. 



the neck, to the parts within the lower jaw, and to the cheeks 

 and lips. These are denominated, the Superior Thyroid, the 

 Sublingual, and the Facial. It then sends off to the back 

 of the head one which is called the Occipital; and, as it pro- 

 ceeds upwards near the condyle of the lower jaw, another which 

 passes internally, behind the jaw, to the deep-seated parts in 

 that direction. After this, it forms the temporal artery, which 

 supplies the forehead and cental parts of the cranium. Besides 

 these larger branches, the external carotid sends off two which 

 are smaller ; one from near the origin of the sublingual artery, 

 which is spent principally upon the pharynx and fauces, and 

 is called the Inferior Pharyngeal : and another, while it is 

 involved with the parotid gland, which goes to the ear ; and 

 is therefore called Posterior Auris. 



These arteries are distributed in the following manner : 



1. The Superior Thyroid Branch 



Comes off very near the root of the external carotid, and 

 sometimes from the common trunk ; it runs obliquely down- 

 wards and forwards, in a meandering course, to the thyroid 

 gland, where it is spent. During this course it sends off one 

 branch to the parts contiguous to the os hyoides ; another to 

 the neighborhood of the larynx : and a third branch which 

 may be termed laryngeal, that passes with a small nerve 

 derived from the laryngeal branch of the par vagum, either 

 between the os hyoides and thyroid cartilage, or the thyroid 

 and cricoid cartilages, to the interior muscles of the larynx ; 

 and finally returns again to terminate externally. 



While in the thyroid gland this artery anastomoses with the 

 inferior thyroid, and also with its fellow on the opposite side. 



2. The Lingual, or Sublingual Branch 



Goes off above the last mentioned artery, and very near it ; 

 but in a very different direction, for it runs upwards and for- 

 wards, to the tongue. In this course it crosses obliquely the 



