UPPER PART OF FEMORAL VESSELS. 565 



the containing space. Crossing beneath the vessels is the nerve of the 

 pectineus ( 2 ). 



Unusual position. Four examples of transference of the main artery of the limb 

 from the front to the back of the thigh have been recorded. In these cases the 

 vessel passed from the pelvis through the great sacro-sciatic notch, and accom- 

 panied the great sciatic nerve to the popliteal space. 



The branches of the first part of the artery are the superficial epigastric 

 and circumflex iliac, two external pudic, and the deep femoral branch. 

 The cutaneous offsets have been seen (p. 554), with the exception of the 

 following, which lies at first beneath the fascia lata. 



The inferior external pudic artery (fig. 195, e) arises separately from, 

 or in common with the other pudic branch (superior). It courses inwards 

 over the pectineus muscle to end in the teguments of the scrotum or the 

 labium pudendi, according to the sex, and it perforates the fascia lata at 

 the inner border of the thigh to reach its destination : in the fat it anasto- 

 moses with branches of the superficial perinseal artery. 



The deep femoral branch (fig. 197, 2 ) or the profunda, is the largest 

 offset of the femoral artery, and arises from the outer part of that trunk 

 one to two inches (Quain) below Poupart's ligament. It is consumed in 

 the muscles of the thigh, and its distribution will be afterwards ascertained. 

 In the present dissection it may be seen to lie over the iliacus muscle, 

 where it gives the external circumflex artery to the outer part of the 

 thigh ; and then to turn, with a large vein, beneath the trunks of the 

 femoral vessels to the inner side of the limb. 1 



Variation in origin. The origin of the profunda may approach nearer to Pou- 

 part's ligament until it arrives opposite that band ; or may even go beyond, and 

 be fixed to the external iliac artery (one example, Quain). And the branch may 

 recede farther and farther from the ligament, till it leaves the parent trunk at the 

 distance of four inches from the commencement ; but in this case the circumflex 

 branches usually arise separately from the femoral. In applying a ligature to 

 the femoral artery in the upper part of the thigh, the thread should be placed 

 four inches below Poupart's ligament, in order that the spot chosen may be free 

 from the disturbing influence of so large an offset. 



FEMORAL VEIN (fig. 195, A). The principal vein of the limb, whilst 

 in the triangular space, has almost the same relative anatomy as the 

 artery : its position to that vessel, however, is not the same throughout. 

 Beneath Poupart's ligament it is on the inner side of the arterial trunk, 

 and on the same level, and is supported on the pubes between the psoas 

 and pectineus muscles ; but it soon winds beneath the artery, and appears 

 on the outer side opposite the upper border of the adductor longus muscle. 

 Occasionally it is inside the artery throughout. In this space it receives 

 the internal saphenous and deep femoral veins, and a small branch (*') 

 with the inferior external pudic artery. 



DEEP PARTS OF THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 



The muscles on the front of the thigh are to be learnt next : they are 

 the sartorius, and the extensor of the knee ; and at the top of the thigh 

 is the small tensor of the fascia lata. Three muscles are combined in the 

 extensor, viz., rectus, vastus externus, and vastus internus. 



1 Sometimes the term common femoral is applied to the part of the trunk above 

 the origin of the profunda, and the names superficial and deep femoral to the 

 nearly equal parts into which it divides. 



