SOLE OF THE FOOT 389 



the surface, and is covered merely by the integument and 

 fasciae. 



The branches which proceed from this part of the vessel are 

 (i) twigs to the neighbouring muscles; (2) medial calcanean 

 branches^ which arise near its origin, and gain the heel by 

 passing through the cleft between the flexor digitorum brevis 

 and the abductor hallucis or by piercing the origin of the 

 abductor hallucis; (3) cutaneous branches, which appear 

 through the plantar aponeurosis along the line of the lateral 

 intermuscular septum ; (4) twigs to the lateral margin of the 

 foot, which anastomose with the lateral tarsal and arcuate 

 branches of the dorsalis pedis. 



Nervus Plantaris Medialis (O.T. Internal Plantar Nerve). 

 The medial plantar nerve arises as the larger of the two 

 terminal branches of the tibial nerve in the hollow of the 

 calcaneus, under cover of the ligamentum laciniatum. It 

 accompanies the medial plantar artery, and has similar 

 relations. After it emerges from under cover of the abductor 

 hallucis it gives off a digital branch to the medial side of the 

 hallux, and then ends, in the interval between the abductor 

 hallucis and the flexor digitorum brevis, by dividing into three 

 terminal digital branches. 



The branches of the medial plantar nerve nre : 



1. Cutaneous twigs to the skin of the sole. 



2. Muscular branches. 



3. Four digital branches. 



The cutaneous twigs to the integument of the sole spring 

 from the trunk of the nerve, and pierce the aponeurosis in 

 the line of the medial intermuscular septum. 



The digital branches of the medial plantar nerve supply 

 the skin of the plantar surfaces of three and a half toes, the 

 first, second, third, and half the fourth. They also supply 

 the skin over the dorsal aspects of the terminal phalanges 

 of those toes and the joints and ligaments of the toes to 

 which they are distributed. 



The digital nerve to the great toe supplies the medial side 

 of that toe. 



The three terminal digital branches pass to the proximal 

 ends of the medial three interdigital clefts, where each 

 divides to supply the adjacent sides of the toes which bound 

 the .clefts. From the third terminal digital branch of the 



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