474 Anatomy Applied to Medicine and Surgery. 



anterior belly of the omo-hyoid, contains the common 

 carotid, the external carotid with its branches, and the in- 

 ternal carotid arteries, the internal jugular vein, the pneu- 

 mogastric, hypo-glossal, spinal accessory, superior laryn- 

 geal, recurrent laryngeal, descendens hypo-glossi and 

 the sympathetic nerves, the pharynx and a portion of the 

 larynx. 



The inferior carotid triangle, bounded, in front, 

 by the median line; above, by the anterior belly of 

 the omo-hyoid, and, behind, by the sterno-mastoid, con- 

 tains the common carotid artery, the internal jugular vein, 

 and the pneumogastric nerve, the descendens and commu- 

 nicans noni, the sympathetic and the recurrent laryngeal 

 nerves, the vertebral artery, the thyroid gland, the larynx 

 and the trachea. 



General Landmarks for the neck. In the median 

 line, at the back of the neck, immediately beneath the oc- 

 cipital bone, no vertebral spine can be felt, since the atlas 

 has no spine. The first spine that can be recognized by 

 the finger is that belonging to the axis, but, below this, no 

 individual spine can be identified until the finger reaches 

 the seventh, which has the most prominent spinous pro- 

 cess of all. In the median line, in front, is the body of the 

 hyoid bone, which lies a little below the level of the angles 

 of the jaw ; about a finger's breadth below this bone is the 

 upper border of the thyroid cartilage, while between them 

 is the thyro-hyoid membrane. In front of the upper part 

 of this membrane and between it and the hyoid bone, there 

 is a small bursa which occasionally becomes inflamed, and, 

 when so inflamed, this bursa causes a transversely-placed 

 swelling to be evident in this situation. Behind the thyro- 

 hyoid membrane is the body of the epiglottis, so that, in 

 cases of cut-throat, if the blade of the instrument inflict- 

 ing the wound be directed backwards and upwards, im- 



