BRANCHES OF THE EXTERNAL CAROTID. 495 



ascending palatine branch of the facial artery when that vessel is of small size. 

 A twig from this branch supplies the Eustachian tube. 



The tympanic branch is a small artery which passes through a minute foramen 

 in the petrous portion of the temporal bone, in company with the tympanic branch 

 of the Glosso-pharyngeal nerve to supply the inner wall of the tympanum and 

 anastomose with the other tympanic arteries. 



The meningeal branches consist of several small vessels, which pass through 

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

 meningeal, enters the cranium through the foramen lacerum posterius ; a second 

 passes through the foramen lacerum medium ; and occasionally a third through the 

 anterior condyloid foramen. They are all distributed to the dura mater. 



Surgical 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 

 hemorrhage. 



The Superficial Temporal Artery (Fig. 285), 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, in the inter- 

 space between the neck of the lower jaw and the external auditory meatus, crosses 

 over the posterior root of the zygoma, passes beneath the Attrahens auriculam 

 muscle, lying on the temporal fascia, and divides, about two inches above the 

 zygoraatic arch, into two branches, an anterior and a posterior. 



The anterior temporal runs tortuously upward and forward to the forehead, 

 supplying the muscles, integument, and pericranium in this region, and anasto- 

 moses with the supra-orbital and frontal arteries. 



The posterior temporal, larger than the anterior, curves upward and backward 

 along the side of the head, lying superficial to the temporal fascia, and inosculates 

 with its fellow of the opposite side, and with the posterior auricular and occipital 

 arteries. 



The superficial temporal artery, as it crosses the zygoma, is covered by the 

 Attrahens auriculam muscle, and by a dense fascia given off from the parotid 

 gland : it is crossed by the temporo-facial division of the facial nerve and one or 

 two veins, and is accompanied by the auriculo-temporal nerve, which lies behind 

 it. Besides some twigs to the parotid gland, the articulation of the jaw, and the 

 Masseter muscle, its branches are, the 



Transverse Facial. Middle Temporal. 



Anterior Auricular. 



The transverse facial is given off from the temporal before that vessel quits 

 the parotid gland ; running forward through its substance, it passes transversely 

 across the face, between Stenson's duct and the loAver border of the zygoma, and 

 divides on the side of the face into numerous branches, which supply the parotid 

 gland, the Masseter muscle, and the integument, anastomosing with the facial, 

 masseteric, and infra-orbital arteries. This vessel rests on the Masseter, and is 

 accompanied by one or two branches of the facial nerve. It is sometimes a branch 

 of the external carotid. 



The middle temporal artery arises immediately above the zygomatic arch, and, 

 perforating the temporal fascia, gives branches to the Temporal muscle, anasto- 

 mosing with the deep temporal branches of the internal maxillary. It occasion- 

 ally gives off an orbital branch, which runs along the upper border of the zygoma, 

 between the two layers of the temporal fascia, to the outer angle of the orbit. This 

 branch, which may arise directly from the superficial temporal artery, supplies the 

 Orbicularis palpeb'rarum, and anastomoses with the lachrymal and palpebral branches 

 of the ophthalmic artery. 



The anterior auricular branches are distributed to the anterior portion of the 

 pinna, the lobule, and part of the external meatus, anastomosing with branches of 

 the posterior auricular. 



