438 



FEMORAL ARTERY. 



commencement, it inclines outwards in front of the iliacus muscle, to such an 

 extent as to be visible for a short distance external to the femoral artery ; it 

 then runs downwards and backwards behind that vessel, and passing behind 

 the long adductor muscle, between it and the great adductor, near their 

 femoral attachments, divides into terminal branches, which pierce the great 

 adductor, and ramify in the muscles at the back and outer part of the 

 thigh. 



Fig. 300. DEEP VIEW OF THE FEMO- 

 RAL ARTERY AND ITS BRANCHES ON 

 THE LEFT SIDE (from R. Quain). | 



The sartorius muscle has been re- 

 moved in part, so as to expose the 

 artery in the middle third of the thigh, 

 a, the anterior superior iliac spine ; b, 

 the aponeurosis of the external oblique 

 muscle near the outer abdominal ring, 

 from which the spermatic cord is seen 

 descending towards the scrotum ; c, 

 the upper part of the rectus femoris 

 muscle ; d, adductor longus ; e, fibrous 

 sheath of Hunter's canal covering the 

 artery ; 1, femoral artery ; 1', femoral 

 vein divided and tied close below Pou- 

 part's ligament; 2, ptofnnda femoris 

 artery ; 3, anterior crural nerves ; 4, 

 internal circumflex branch ; 5, super- 

 ficial pudic branches ; 6, external cir- 

 cumflex branch, with its ascending 

 transverse and descending branches 

 separating from it ; 6', twigs to the 

 rectus muscle; 7, branches to the 

 vastus iuternus muscle ; 8, and 9, 

 some of the muscular branches of thu 

 femoral. 



This artery lies successively in 

 front of the iliacu*, pectineus 

 adductor brevis and adductor 

 magnus muscles. The femoral 

 and profunda veins and the long 

 adductor muscle are interposed 

 between it and the femoral trunk. 

 The named branches of the 

 deep femoral artery are the ex- 

 ternal and the internal circumflex, 

 and the perforating arteries. 



1. The external circumflex ar- 

 tery, a branch of considerable 

 size, arises from the outer side of 

 the profuuda near its origin, and 

 passing outwards for a short dis- 

 tance beneath the sartorius and rectus muscles, and through the divisions 

 of the anterior crural nerve, divides into three sets of branches. 



(a} Transverse branches pass outwards over the crureus muscle, pierce the vastus 

 externus, so as to get between it and the femur, just below the great trochanter, and 



