a 



ANATOMY OP FEMORAL HERNIA. 19t 



into the pectineal line and having a concave border directed 

 toward the femoral vessels. This triangular portion is 

 known as Gimbernatfs ligament. A portion of the fascia 

 luta blends with this under the name of Hey's ligament. 



Reverting to the abdominal cavity, and removing the 

 peritoneum, it will be seen that the transversalis fascia 

 (p. 169), and the fascia covering the psoas and iliacus mus- 

 cles unite, externally to the femoral vessels, and form a 

 continuous fold, closely connected with Poupart's liga- 

 ment ; where the vessels pass out these fasciae separate 

 and surround them, and blend with their areolar sheath 

 about two inches below the ligament ; the sort of funnel 

 thus made, and through which the vessels pass downward 

 into the thigh, is called the infundibuliform fascia. It is 

 lain, therefore, that while the fold protects the crural 

 arch, which is the space between Poupart's ligament and 

 the os innominatum, from a hernial protrusion externally, 

 it is liable to occur internally where the exit of the vessels 

 obliges these fasciae to separate. 



The crural arch is occupied, externally, by the psoas and 

 iliacus muscles, between which passes the crural nerve ; next 

 the muscles comes the external iliac artery, then the external 

 iliac vein, between which and the inner termination of Pou- 

 part's ligament is a space called the crural ring. The crural 

 ring is about half an inch wide, and is filled with the sub- 

 peritoneal cellular tissue ; that portion of this tissue which 

 stretches over the crural ring, and in which there is often 

 found a lymphatic gland, is called the septum crurale. 

 The greater size of the crural arch in females than in 

 males, owing to the greater breadth of their pelvis and the 

 lesser development of the soft parts, makes the crural 

 ring a much larger space in them, and explains why they 

 are more subject than males to hernia at this point. The 

 vessels and the crural ring are all inclosed in the infundi- 

 buliform fascia, but are separated from each other by septa. 

 By dividing Poupart's ligament, and turning it carefully 

 to either side, these septa may be seen, one between the 

 artery and vein, and one between the vein and the crural 

 ring. The space between the crural ring and the point at 

 which the saphena vein joins the femoral, is called the 

 ('rural canal ; its anterior wall is the transversalis portion 

 of the infundibuliform fascia, with the falciform border of 

 the iliac side of the fascia lata ; the posterior wall is formed 



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