Baker — On the Ligamenfum Mucosum. 193 



XXIX. — Ox THE LiGA:\rEyir:vi ITrcosni. Ey A:rthte 'WrN'DowE 

 "WiLXEET Baeee, B. a., Student in ICedicine, Trinity College, 

 Dublin. 



[Eead April 27, 187-5.] 



The Kganientum mucosum. of the knee joint being so very slightly 

 noticed by anatomists in general, and the information respecting it so 

 scanty, it has been suggested to me that I should keep notes of some 

 of those I found chuing the past winter session, and these notes I now 

 bring under yoiu" notice. 



Eefore giving the result of my own observations, it may be 

 necessary to review the literatui'e of the subject. The first notice of 

 it, of which I am aware, is by Yesalius (Op. Yenetiis, 1568, p. 270), 

 who records its esistence in these words : — " Yerum praeter hoc liga- 

 mentum interdum adhuc mu.cosum quoddam et gTacile reperias, in medio 

 genu articuli locatum." The anatomists who followed him added 

 nothing to his description until the publication of Walther's Obser- 

 vationes de articulis et ligamentis incessu, statuque, &:c. (Lipsise, 1728, 

 p. 8), who refers to its relation to the mass of fat. But the fullest of 

 the old descriptions is that of Weitbrecht, who, in his Syndesmologia 

 (Petropol., 1742), says, "Ex ejusdem zonse pinguedinosge sede 

 inferiore educitur appendix aliqua ejusdem substantise sed plurimis 

 fibris intexta, ope quarum in latere dextro sulci, qui est anterius juxta 

 capitulum externum femoris supra ligamentum cmciatum anterius 

 cui accumbit infigitur. Hffi fibres an duplicaturanim continuationes 

 siat, an vero ex ipsa patella proveniant ut Winslow vult difficulter 

 extricari potest, magis tamen assentiendum Walthero mihi videtur 

 qui id de pinguedine terminari perhibet." Eeferrixig to Y'inslow's 

 description shows us that it is an incoiTcct one, as even in the fifth 

 edition of his ''Anatomical Exposition of the Stmcture of the Human 

 Body" (1775), he says (p. 130), "it is attached to the lower part 

 of the cartilaginous side of the patella by one end, by the other 

 to the anterior part of the great notch between the femoral con- 

 dyles." He says its use is to hinder the fat fi'om being compressed 

 in motion of the knee. Other old anatomists, Kerckring, Blancard, 

 &c., add nothing. Among the modern anatomists the ligament is 

 passed by with as trifling notice. Boyer names it the adipose liga- 

 ment. Cmveilhier (Anatomic, 1834, p. 469), says that sometimes it 

 is absent, sometimes multiple ; ho has seen a fold of this nature 

 stretching from the membrane over the extensor tendon to the supra- 

 trochlear part of the femur, ilr. B. Cooper in his Lectures (1829, p. 

 275) says it is composed of a number of little fimbriated processes 

 which receive the branches of the articular artery. Barkow calls it 

 " ligamentum suspensorium marsupii," as he has named the alar 

 ligaments the " marsupium patcUare." Henle"^" says of it, " The 



* Banderlelie, 2n(i edition, p. 153. 



'&. 1. A. PHOC, SEE. II., VOL. II., SCIENCE. 2 D 



