54 



THE BLOOD-VESSELS AND NERVES OF THE FOOT. 



1. The Aijtekies. 



Before the blood from the heart can reach the foot it must 

 traverse a large number of arteries, v^hich are variously named. 

 At the metacarpus the principal vessel is termed the meta- 

 carpal artery, a name which it retains down to the region of the 

 fetlock joint. An inch or two above the fetlock joint and in 

 front of the flexor tendons this vessel divides into two branches 

 of similar size, which then pass downwards on either side of 



^ar/> /' 



Fig. 36.— Lateral view of fore-foot, with prepared vessels and nerves, a, digital artery ; 

 &, perpendicular artery; e , preplantar ai'tery ; /', twigs from the plantar arterj- 

 which escape through the foramina, just above the lower margin of the os pedis, 

 and by their anastomosis form f, the circumflex artery of the toe ; A, digital 

 vein ; B, coronary venous plexus ; C, laminal plexus ; G, circumflex vein ; 1, 

 digital nerve; 2, anterior tei'minal branches of digital nerve : 3. posterior ter- 

 minal branches of digital nerve ; 4, cutaneous branches. 



the limb as far as the pedal bone, being known as the digital 

 arteries. At the pedal bone each digital divides to form the 

 preplantar (fig. 36, e!) and plantar artery (fig. 38, /). 



Examining the vessels more closely, one notices, (l) that 

 each digital artery (a) is a fairly-large vessel, lying at the sidci 

 of the flexor tendons, to which, or to the check ligament of 



