574 DISSECTION OF THE THIGH. 



upper part of the vastus it furnishes one or more branches, and is then 

 continued as far as the middle of the thigh, where it ends in offsets to the 

 muscle and the knee joint. 



Its articular branch is prolonged on or in the vastus, and on the tendon 

 of the adductor magnus to the inner side of the knee joint ; and it is dis- 

 tributed over the synovial membrane on the front of the articulation. 

 This small nerve accompanies the deep branch of the anastomotic artery. 



A branch of nerve to the tensor vaginae femoris is derived from the 

 superior gluteal ; it enters the under surface of the muscle, and extends 

 nearly to the lower end. 



Directions. After the examination of the muscles of the front of the 

 thigh, with their vessels and nerves, the student is to learn the adductor 

 muscles, and the vessels and nerves which belong to them. 



PARTS OF THE INNER SIDE OF THE THIGH. 



The muscles in this position are the three adductors,; longus, brevis, 

 and magnus, with the gracilis and pectineus ; these have the following 

 position with respect to one another. Internal to all and the longest, is 

 the gracilis. Superficial to the others, are the pectineus and the adductor 

 longus ; and beneath the last two are the short adductor and the adductor 

 magnus. 



In connection with the muscles, and supplying them are the profunda 

 artery (of the femoral) and its branches, with the accompanying vein. 



The obturator nerve lies amongst the adductor muscles, and furnishes 

 branches to them. 



Dissection. For the preparation of the muscles, the investing fascia 

 and tissue are to be taken away ; and the two superficial adductors are to 

 separated from one another. 



Let the student be careful of the branches of the obturator nerve in 

 connection with the muscles, viz., those entering the muscular fibres, and 

 one issuing beneath the adductor longus, to join the plexus at the inner 

 side of the thigh. 



Lastly, should any fat and veins be left with the profunda and its 

 branches they must be removed. 



The GRACILIS reaches from the pelvis to the tibia (fig. 198, ), and is 

 fleshy and ribbon-like above, but tendinous below. The muscle arises by 

 a thin aponeurosis, two or three inches in depth, from the pubic border of 

 the hip bone close to the margin, viz., opposite the lower half of the sym- 

 physis, and the upper part of the pubic arch. Inferiorly it is inserted by 

 a flat tendon, about one-third of an inch wide, into the inner surface of 

 the tibia, beneath and close to the sartorius. 



The muscle is superficial throughout. At the upper part of the thigh 

 it js flattened against the adductors brevis and magnus, so as to have its 

 borders directed forwards and backwards ; and in the lower third, it inter- 

 venes between the sartorius and semi-membranous muscles, and forms 

 part of the inner boundary of the popliteal space. At its insertion the 

 tendon is nearer the knee than that of the semitendinosus, though at the 

 same depth from the surface, and both lie over the internal lateral liga- 

 ment; and from the tendon an expansion is continued to the fascia of the 

 leg, like the sartorius. A bursa separates the tendon from the ligament, 

 and projects above it to the sartorius. 



Action. It bends the knee joint if the tibia is not, fixed, rotating in 



