24 HEAD AND NECK 



placed one in each eyelid so as to occupy an area immediately 

 adjoining its free margin. They differ very materially from 

 each other. The superior tarsus is much the larger of the 

 two, and presents the figure of a half oval. Its deep surface 

 is intimately connected with the subjacent conjunctiva, whilst 

 its superficial surface is clothed by the orbicularis muscle, and 

 is in relation to the roots of the eyelashes. Its superior 

 border is thin, convex, and is continuous with a tendinous 

 expansion of the levator palpebrae superioris, and with the 

 palpebral fascia which attaches it to the margin of the orbit. 

 The inferior border of the tarsus is thickened and straight, 

 and the integument adheres firmly to it. 



The inferior tarsus is a narrow strip which is similarly 

 placed in the lower lid. It is connected with the inferior 

 margin of the orbit by the inferior part of the palpebral fascia. 



Glandulse Tarsales (O.T. Meibomian Follicles). At this 

 stage the student should examine the tarsal glands, which he 

 will display by everting the eyelids. They are placed on the 

 deep surfaces of the tarsi. To the naked eye they appear 

 as closely placed, parallel, yellow, granular -looking streaks, 

 which run at right angles to the free margins of the lids. 

 They are more numerous and of greater length in the 

 upper lid, and, being lodged in furrows on the deep surface 

 of the tarsi, they are distinctly visible upon both aspects 

 of them, even while the conjunctiva is in position. Their 

 ducts open upon the free margin of each lid, posterior to 

 the eyelashes. 



The Palpebral Fascia. The palpebral fascia is a sheet of 

 fibrous membrane which occupies the interval between the 

 tarsi and the margins of the orbit, forming, with the tarsi, a 

 septum between the orbit and the exterior. Its peripheral 

 border is attached to the orbital margin, except at the medial 

 angle of the orbit, where it occupies a more posterior plane, 

 and is attached to the crista lacrimalis, posterior to the medial 

 palpebral ligament and the lacrimal sac. Its central border 

 in the lower lid is connected with the lower border of the 

 lower tarsus. In the upper lid it blends with the expanded 

 tendon of the levator palpebrae superioris, and is attached 

 with it to the anterior surface of the upper tarsus. It is 

 pierced by the supra-orbital, supra-trochlear, and lacrimal 

 branches of the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve, 

 and by the terminal branches of the ophthalmic artery. 



