OF THE PELVIS. 29 



attachment to the three broad muscles of the abdomen; that is to 

 say, to the external oblique by its outer lip, to the transversalis by 

 its inner lip, and to the internal oblique by its interstice; in front by 

 the great hypogastric notch which looks from above downwards, and 

 from without inwards; by the antero-superior spine of the ilium, to 

 which are attached Poiipart's ligament, the sartorius muscle, and a 

 part of the iliac muscle and the fascia lata; a small semilunar depres- 

 sion for the passage of some nervous filaments going to the thigh; 

 the antero-inferior spine of the ilium, which gives insertion to one 

 of the roots of the rectus femoris muscle; a second depression for 

 the passage of the united psoas and iliacus muscles; the linea ileo- 

 pectinea, sometimes scarcely discernible, and sometimes very salient, 

 and which receives the attachment of the psoas parvus; a third de- 

 pression or triangular space filled up by the origin of the pectineus 

 mi\scle, and corresponding to the crural vessel and nerves; the pecti- 

 neal crista or postero-superior edge of the pubis, oblique from with- 

 out inwards, which forms part of the superior strait, and terminates 

 in the spine of the pubis, to which is attached the outer pillar of the 

 abdominal ring and the rectus abdominis muscle; lastly, by the upper 

 edge of the symphysis pubis. 



§. VI. Of the Dinieussoiis of* the Peliis, wn- 

 coniiected T^ith its Axes or straits. 



58. The space comprised between the two anterior inferior spines 

 of the ilia measures eight or nine inches; that between the antero- 

 superior, from nine to ten; and from ten to eleven between the mid- 

 dle portions of the cristse of the ilia. The length of the crest of the 

 ilium, following its course from the postero-superior spine to the 

 antero-superior tuberosity is eight inches, and six inches in a straight 

 line. The base of the sacrum is four inches across, and two inches 

 and a half from front to rear. From the middle of the iliac crista 

 to the tuberosity of the ischium is seven inches, and the margin of 

 the excavation cuts this line into two nearly equal portions; the sym- 

 physis pubis, which is eighteen lines high, is only half an inch thick. 

 The arch of the same name is from three and a half to four inches 

 wide at its base where it blends with the bis-ischiatic diameter, and only 

 ten or twelve lines at its apex; its height is two inches and a half, 

 and the bony semicircle of which it is composed is folded forwards 

 and outwards, as if it had been turned in this way by the passage of 

 some hard and rounded body, while still in a soft and plastic state. 



§. VII. Differences of the Pelvis, in respect to 

 A^es, 8exes and Species. 



4 



