GREAT VESSELS AND NERVES OF NECK 227 



the left side, it is continued downwards between the common 

 carotid and subclavian arteries. 



Ganglion Cervicale Inferius. The inferior cervical ganglion 

 is lodged in the interval between the transverse process of the 

 seventh cervical vertebra and the neck of the first rib. In that 

 position it lies posterior to the vertebral artery. It is by no 

 means uncommon to find it more or less completely fused, 

 over the neck of the first rib, with the first thoracic ganglion. 

 The connection between it and the middle cervical ganglion is 

 generally in the form of two or more slender nerve cords. 

 One of the cords passes anterior to the subclavian artery, 

 loops round below it and ascends behind it. That loop is 

 termed the ansa subclavia (Vieussenii). 



The branches of the inferior cervical ganglion are : 



1. Grey rami communicantes to the seventh and eighth cervical nerves. 



2. Rami vasculares. 



3. Nervus cardiacus inferior. 



The vascular rami are fine branches which form a plexus 

 around the subclavian artery and its branches. Those 

 around the vertebral artery are remarkable for their large size. 



The inferior cardiac nerve, on both sides, enters the deep 

 cardiac plexus. 



THYREOID GLAND TRACHEA (ESOPHAGUS. 



After the vessels and nerves of the neck have been studied 

 the dissectors should examine the thyreoid gland, the trachea, 

 and the oesophagus. 



Glandula Thyreoidea. The thyreoid gland is a highly 

 vascular, solid body, which clasps the upper part of the 

 trachea and extends upwards for some distance upon each 

 side of the larynx. It is enclosed in a sheath of the pre- 

 tracheal layer of the cervical fascia, which is attached above 

 to the front and sides of the larynx. It possesses also its 

 own proper fibrous capsule, which is continuous with the 

 stroma of the gland. Between the sheath and the capsule 

 the arteries of supply ramify before they enter the gland 

 substance, and the emerging veins anastomose with one 

 another to form the various thyreoid veins. It varies greatly 

 in size in different subjects ; and -in females and children it 

 is always relatively larger than in adult males. It consists of 

 in 15 a 



