132 SURGICAL APPLIED ANATOMY. [Cnap. vm. 



pharynx is not so large a space as supposed, for it 

 must be remembered that during life it is viewed 

 very obliquely, and erroneous notions are thus formed 

 of its antero-posterior dimensions. The distance from 

 the arch of the teeth to the commencement of the 

 gullet is about six inches, a measurement that should 

 be borne in mind in extracting foreign bodies. Foreign 

 bodies passed into the pharynx are most apt to lodge 

 at the level of the cricoid cartilage, a point that, in 

 the adult, is a little beyond the reach of the finger. 

 The history of foreign bodies in the pharynx shows 

 that that cavity is very dilatable, and can accommo- 

 date for some time large substances. Thus, in a case 

 reported by Dr. Geoghegan, a man of sixty, who had 

 for months some trouble in his throat for which he 

 could not account, was supposed to have cancer. On 

 examination, however, a plate carrying five false 

 teeth, and presenting niches for five natural ones, was 

 found embedded in the pharynx, where it had been 

 lodged for five mouths. The plate had been swallowed 

 during sleep (Med. Press, 1866). In the Lancet for 

 1868 is an account of a mutton chop that became 

 lodged in the pharynx of a gluttonous individual. 

 The chop presented the ordinary vertebral segment of 

 bone, together with one and a half inches of rib, and 

 was "pretty well covered with meat." Attempts to 

 remove it failed, and it was finally vomited up. Dr. 

 Hicks (Lancet, 1884) reports the case of a woman who 

 committed suicide by cramming one-half a square yard 

 of coarse calico (belonging to her night-dress) into her 

 mouth and throat. 



The walls of the pharynx are in relation with the 

 base of the skull, and with the upper six cervical 

 vertebrae. The arch of the atlas is almost exactly on a 

 line with the hard palate. The axis is on a line with 

 the free edge of the upper teeth. The termination 

 of the pharynx corresponds to the sixth cervical 



