Scar pa's Triangle and Femoral Hernia. 303 



inches horizontally outwards from the spine of the pubes, 

 i.e., the centre is one and a half inches in a direction, 

 downwards and outwards, from the pubic spine. The 

 saphenous opening overlies the pectineus muscle, and, if 

 the cribriform fascia be removed and the finger inserted 

 into the opening, it will pass in an outward direction and 

 will touch the femoral vein. 



Scarpa's Triangle. On the removal of the fascia 

 lata a muscular triangle is exposed, immediately below 

 Poupart's ligament Scarpa's triangle. This triangle is 

 bounded, externally, by the sartorius, and, internally, by 

 the adductor longus, and the convergence of these muscles 

 forms the apex, while the base is situated at Poupart's 

 ligament. The floor is composed, from without inwards, 

 of the following muscles, viz. : The iliacus, the psoas, the 

 pectineus, a small portion of the adductor brevis and the 

 adductor longus, while the roof is formed by the two 

 layers of the superficial fascia. 



Landmarks The base varies in accordance with 

 the length of Poupart's ligament, while the apex is situ- 

 ated about five inches from the base, and is on a deeper 

 level than it in the extended position of the limb. The 

 relationship of the main structures in the triangle, from 

 within outwards, is femoral vein, femoral artery and an- 

 terior crural nerve. The vein lies close to the inner side 

 of the artery, whereas, the nerve is situated about half an 

 inch external to the artery, lying between the psoas and 

 the iliacus muscles. The femoral artery almost bisects 

 this triangle, passing, as it does, to the apex, from a point 

 half an inch internal to the middle o>f the base. The term, 

 common femoral, is applied to the vessel until it divides 

 into its two branches, viz., the superficial and the deep 

 femoral, and the point, where this division occurs, 

 is variable, although it may be taken, on an average, as 

 about one and a half inches below Poupart's ligament. 



