MUSCLES OF THE ANTERIOR LIMBS. 277 



2. Opponent of the TJmmb. (Fig. 125, D, 10.) 



This vestige of the thick short muscle which bears the same name in Man is situated 

 beneath and within the preceding, in a slightly oblique direction downwards and 

 outwards. Pale and almost entirely muscular, it is attached to tiie posterior ligament 

 of the carpus and the metacarpal bone of the thumb. Owing to the conformation of this 

 digit in Carnivora r this muscle cannot act as it does in Man in producing the opposition 

 of the thumb ; it only draws it towards the axis of the hand, and is therefore merely an 

 adductor of the thumb. 



3. Short Flexor of the Thumb. (Fig. 125, D, 11.) 



A very small muscle, deeper in colour than the other two, and situated between 

 them, the adductor of the index, and the fourth interosseous muscle. It is fixed, by its 

 superior extremity, in the mass of the posterior carpal ligament, and attached, below, to 

 the internal side of the first phalanx. It is a somewhat extensive flexor of the thumb. 



4. Adductor of the Index. (Fig. 125, D, 12.) 

 Synonym. The adductor of the thumb in Man. 



Elongated, prismatic, compressed on each side, included between the third and 

 fourth iuterosseous muscles, and concealed by the tendinous portion of the common 

 flexor of the digits, this muscle is attached, superiorly, to the posterior carpal ligament 

 with the third interosseous muscle. It is fixed, inferiorly, by menus of a small flattened 

 tendon, along the superior and internal side of the first phalanx of the index. It is 

 regarded as the adductor of the thumb in Man transformed into an adductor of the index, 

 in consequence of the atrophy of the fifth digit. 



5. Cutaneous Palmar (Palmaris Brevis). 



A thick, hemispherical, musculo-adipose body, forming the base of the exterior 

 tubercle placed behind the carpus. It adheres intimately to the skin by its superficial 

 face, and deeply to the aponeurosis covering the muscles of the hand. 



6. Adductor of the Small Digit. (Fig. 125, D, 14.) 



This muscle is superficially situated, external to, and behind the outer metacarpal 

 bone, and is composed of a thick, conical fleshy body, concave on its anterior surface, 

 convex posteriorly, and of a long, thin, and flat tendon, which succeeds the inferior 

 extremity of the muscular portion. 



It is 'attached, by the superior extremity of the latter, to the pisiform bone; the 

 tendon terminates outside the superior extremity of the first phalanx of the small digit. 



This muscle separates that digit from the axis of the hand, and is therefore an 

 abductor and not an adductor, as its name would indicate. That name has been given 

 to it in Man, because the hand has beeu considered in a state of supination, a position in 

 which it is effectively an adductor in regard to the median plane, of the body. If this 

 name has been preserved here, it is owing to a desire not to import any new element of 

 confusion into a nomenclature already too complicated. 



7. Short Flexor of the Small Digit. (Fig. 125, D, 13.) 



Situated within the preceding, in a slightly oblique direction downwards and out- 

 wards, flattened before and behind, triangular, and almost entirely muscular, this muscle 

 derives its origin from a ligament which unites the pisiform bone to the metacarpal 

 region, and terminates interiorly on the tendon of the adductor, whose congener it is. 

 It may also concur in the flexion of the small digit, though to a very limited degree. 



8. Opponent of the Small Digit. (Fig. 125, D, 15.) 



A muscle elongated from above downwards, flattened before and behind, situated 

 under the perforans tendons, behind the second interosseous muscle, in a direction 

 slightly downwards and outwards. It originates from the posterior ligament of the 

 carpus, and terminates within the superior extremity of the first phalanx of the external 

 digit by a small tendon. It acts as an adductor by drawing the small digit towards the 

 axis of the hand. 



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