368 



THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS IN MAMMALIA. 



It is long and narrow, flattened on both sides, and describes a slight 

 curve with the concavity turned upwards : a form which allows it to be 

 studied, with regard to relations, on two faces, two borders, and two 

 extremities. 



By its external face, it responds to the internal pterygoid muscle, the 

 digastricus, the sterno-maxillaris tendon, and the cellulo-aponeurotic layer 

 separating it from the parotid. Its internal face, applied to the side of the 

 larynx, responds, superiorly, to the guttural pouch, to the carotid artery, 

 and to the nerves which accompany that vessel in the upper part of the 

 neck. 



The superior border, thin and concave, is margined by the middle part of 

 the digastricus. The inferior, thick and concave, is in contact with the 

 glosso-facial vein. 



The posterior extremity is maintained beneath the transverse process of 



Fig. 173. 



MAXILLARY A*D SUBLINGUAL GLANDS. 



R, Maxillary gland ; s, Wharton's duct ; T, Sublingual gland. 



the atlas, by an extremely loose and abundant cellular tissue ; the anterior is 

 insinuated between the internal pterygoid and the thyro-hyoideus muscle. 



Vessels and nerves. The blood is distributed to the maxillary gland by 

 various small innominate arteries, like those of the parotid gland, and which 

 are most frequently derived from the external carotid and the glosso-facial. 

 The nerves are principally furnished by the carotid plexus. 



