OBLIQUUS. 
the furface of a cavity, and having an ip essai in yaaa 
cavi Their eurofes form 
tendinous fibres, clofely compaéted, and interwoven with 
each other. It is fixed above to the enfiform cartilaze, be- 
low to the fymphyfis pubis; its anterior furface is covered by 
Its fides are the 
The aperture is larger at the former period: it eae 
aaa in fize - ter birth, = is filled by a 
ftance the remains o veffels already Sie 
to which 2 an infleCted cicatrix ‘of the fkit. frmly adheres. In 
the abdomen are generally 
The tes alba varies in breadth 
At the enfiform cartilage the re@i nearly 
: but they diverge below this point, fo 
that the line is about half or three quarters of an inch broad 
at the navel. It again grows narrower below the navel, and is 
a mere line for fome inches above the pubes 
On each fide of the linea alba the aponeurofis i is elevated 
by the re&ti mufcles ; and a femilunar line is defcribed by the 
outer margin of each of thefe, where the aponeurofes fepa- 
rate, in order to include the ioe ence aah the two 
‘ormed by the adhefion of the aponeurofis to the te 
interfeCtions of the recti, and are fometimes called Anee 
and anterior part of the cheft to the crifta of the ilium, and 
to the pubes; and from the lumbar region behind to the 
linea alba in front. We confider in it an external and an 
internal furface, and four edges 
The external furface is covered by the fkin, except fora 
{mall extent behind, where the latiffimus dorfi lies on it: a 
confiderable ftratum of fat lies between the integuments and 
this mufcie. The internal furface covers the anterior part 
of the feven or eight lower ribs, and of their cartilages, the 
intercoftal mufcles, the upper part of the rectus, the 
obliquus internus, the cremafter mufcle and fpermatic chord. 
ratum of cellular tiffue feparates. it from t 
obliquus internus behind ; but in front the aponeurofes are 
Fr 
@ 
a into one layer in the — part of their 
rea 
is extended fi 
crifta ilii, and is unattached : it is covered by the latiffimus 
orfi. 
“The {uperior edge may be divided into two parts : the an- 
terior, which is fhort, extends horizontally from the feventh 
ce 
oz 
= 
o 
a! 
other, and called digitations. 
broader and longer than the fuperior and inferior. We may 
diftinguifh in each an upper and lower edge and a point : in- 
deed they exactly refemble the teeth of a faw ona large 
fcale. ‘The upper margin is fixed to the bony part of the 
rib, obliquely from above downwards, and from before 
ba lawaide: : ae the fibres meet, in the four or five fu uper. ior 
enes, with thof 
apex is Boner yi ted, and fixed to the under edge of 
the rib. The four or five fuperi or dgitation of the obliquus 
externus are aa into the intervals of the origin of the 
erratus, three or four lo eee are covered b 
latiffimus dorfi, and decuflate with it. The firit digitation 
as fixed near the Sen ce of the oe but the fucceeding 
ones recede farther arther fro 
It will follow from this defcription that 
the breadth of the obliquus externus is greateft at its 
middle, and that it becomes narrower from this part to- 
warde either the upper or lower edge. 
The inferior margin is fixed, by flefhy and aponeurotic 
fibres, to the anterior third part of the outer e f 
the crilta ili: from the {pine of the bone it is extended, 
nearly in a ftraight line, over the broad concavity in the 
front of the os Le podokr ve to the pubes, to which it is 
attached, and i ween thofe two points 
“fle efhy fibres, a an apo- 
spats to 
ery 1 
t being sponeutotcy an 
The Dae fibres vary in lengt 
horizontal, the 
come again fhorter, and their direCtion is nearly vertical. 
The two inferior digitations end in the crifta ilii; but all. 
the reft terminate in the aponeurofis. 
The latter is broader below than above ; it is thin, but 
ftrong, and made up chiefly of oblique fibres, following the 
fame dire€tion as thofe of the mufcular part : fome weaker 
fibres occafionally crofs thefe. Irregular openings in be 
ferve to tranfmit {mall nerves and blood-veffels. That 
of the aponeurofis, which is ftretched from the ifm 
to the pubes, is thicker and ftronger than the reft, 
and is defcribed, as if it were a diftin@ part, under the 
name of Fallopius’s or Poupart’s ligament, or the crural 
arch. By the attachment of -the fafcia lata it ne | 
race 
