s f Till. I li' NE 241 



doubling of this apoueurosis into two layers. Otio of these leaves descends on 

 tin- internal muscles of the thigh to constitute tin- <-rnnil <I]H>H, ///v/.sV.s 

 110, 11); while the other is reflect id upwards and forwards, to ent< T 

 tin- abdominal cavity ; this reflected leaf of the great oblique aponeurosis is 

 named the crnnil arcli <//';/<///</// f I'mijxirt or Fullojiiiix). ( Fi'_r. 108, B.) 



Near the prepubic tendon of the abdominal muscles, and immediately 



bet'-'iv iN division into two leaves, the aponeurosis of the external obliqu< i> 



d by a largo oval aperture (Fig. 116, 5), the inferior orifice of the 



canal through which passes the cord of the testicle in the male, and the 



mammary vessels in the female. This channel has been named the inijnin"! 



fdii'il. 



The description of the femoral aponeurosis, the crural arch, and the 

 inguinal ring a necessary complement of the great oblique muscle will be 

 givi-n lie ri 'after. 



ll'lntions of the Great Oblique Muscle. By its superficial face, the 

 external oblique responds to the storno-trochincus and the abdominal tunic, 

 which latter >, pamti -s it from the skin and the pannieulus. By its deep face, 

 ir i< ivlat.-d to the ribs, into which it is inserted, as well as with their carti- 

 correspouding intercostal muscles, the small oblique, and the great 

 straight muscle. The latter even appears to be attached, through the 

 anterior moiety of its external border, to the fleshy portion of the great 

 oblique, by means of a slight lamina of yellow elastic tissue, which covers, 

 to a small extent, the deep face of the two muscles. 



Action. The external oblique, in contracting, compresses the abdominal 

 viscera, flexes the vertebral column, and acts as an expiratory muscle. (By 

 its compression on the abdominal viscera it concurs in the acts of defecation, 

 micturatiou, and parturition.) 



INTERNAL CRURAL APONEUROSIB. This fibrous lamina descends from the 

 plicature of the flank on the patella and the inner surface of the leg. 

 Outwardly, it is confounded with the aponeurosis of the fascia lata; in- 

 wardly, it degenerates into cellular tissue. It covers the long adductor of 

 the leg, part of the short adductor, the vastus internus, and the crural vessels 

 at their exit from the abdominal cavity. 



\L ARCH. As already mentioned, this is the reflected leaf of the 

 great oblique aponeurosis, and is also named the lii/iiiin nf f h\illi>jiinn and 

 '/-/'.- liijnnti'iit. It is a wide, flat band, attached by its extremities to the 

 external angle of the ilium and the anterior border of the pubis. Its 

 anterior face (Fig. 108, B) forms, inwardly, the posterior wall of the inguinal 

 s attachment, outwardly, to the posterior fibres of the small 

 oblique muscle. Its posterior face, applied against the superior extremity of 

 the patellar muscles, the long adductor of the leg, the pcctineus, and the 

 crural vessels on their leaving the abdomen, embraces all these parts as in a 

 vast arch, and from this peculiarity it derives its name. Its superior b: min- 

 is inserted, for its external half, into the liunbo-iliuc apnm-m-osis. In its 

 middle part it is much thinner, and is prolonged to the external surface of 

 tin lon^' adductor muscle of the leg and the iliac fascia, to bo at last mixed 

 up with the hitter. Within the pectincal insertion of th- small psoas 

 mu-idc. it forms the anterior urn-gin of the crural riiuj : a triangular c; 



; inscribed on the other side by the anterior l>ordT of the pubis, the 

 iliaeiis, and the long adductor of the leg, and through which pass the crural 

 vessels as they leave the abdomen by the crural arch. 1 The inferior h-rder 



1 This orifice is covered by a very tliiu aimm-un'tii' lay.-r, which is prolonged, ni 

 <->n the crural vessels, behind, into Uie jM-lvio mvity. mul wliu-h appears to be oontii. 



B 



