438 SURGICAL APPLIED ANATOMY. [Chap. xix. 



reasons can be given why that vessel should be attacked. 

 It is just about to bifurcate into two large trunks, its 

 superficial position exposes it to injury, it is greatly 

 influenced by the movements of the hip, and its coats 

 may even be damaged by those movements, if excessive. 



Phlebitis of the femoral vein has in many cases 

 followed contusion of the vessel in its upper or more 

 superficial part, and a like result has even followed 

 from violent flexion of the thigh. The long saphenous 

 vein is often varicose, and one form of the varicosity 

 is said to depend upon constriction of the vein by an 

 unduly narrow saphenous opening. One sometimes 

 meets with cases that may probably be due to this 

 cause ; but the evidence is not sufficient to sanction 

 the operation proposed for such cases, viz. an enlarge- 

 ment of the saphenous opening itself. That varicose 

 veins are, in the majority of cases, of congenital origin 

 is now very generally allowed. 



The anterior crural nerve lies on the ilio-psoas 

 muscle, and it is said that neuralgia and even 

 paralysis of the nerve may follow upon inflammation 

 of that muscle and upon psoas abscess. The superficial 

 position of the trunk exposes it to injury. Thegenito- 

 crural nerve (the nerve that supplies the cremaster 

 muscle) gives a sensory filament to the integument 

 of the thigh in Scarpa's triangle. Irritation of the 

 skin over the seat of this nerve, which is placed just 

 to the outer side of the femoral artery, will cause, in 

 children, a sudden retractation of the testicle. The 

 same result is often seen in adults, also, on severer 

 stimulation. 



The lymphatic glands in this region are 

 numerous, and as they are frequently the seat of 

 abscess, it is important to know from whence they 

 derive their efferent vessels. They are divided into a 

 superficial and deep set. The superficial set, averaging 

 from ten to fifteen glands, are arranged in two clusters, 



