Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Practical anatomy. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![each one and sometimes gives origin to many of the mus- cular fibres. It is thin on the protected parts of the body (e. g., the inside of the arms and thighs and front of the neck), but thick and firm on exposed parts. It is attached to bony prominences and other parts (e. g., Poupart's liga- ment) for firm support, and is usually made tense either by the position of the limb or \>y direct muscular action (e. #., the omo-hyoid in the neck, the biceps in the arm, the tensor vaginae femoris in the leg). On the trunk and head it can scarcely be said to exist. Its principal uses are to afford origin and support to the muscles and protection to the great bloodvessels.] In cleaning muscles it is essential to have the fibres stretched and rendered tense, which may be accomplished by moving the limb or applying the hooks. [To stretch the flexors, put the part in extension; to stretch the ex- tensors, in flexion; to stretch pronators, in supination, etc.] A muscle should invariably be cleaned along its fibres; the dissector beginning at one edge and advancing steadUy to the other, and thus reflecting a complete layer of fascia ; the knife being held with the back to the muscle, to avoid injury to it. The attachments of a muscle (origin and insertion) should be most carefully followed out [down to the bone, and compared with the skeleton]; but it is important also to clean the fascia from the whole length of the muscle, or it will soon look dirty. [The relations of each muscle to its neighboring parts, especially the arteries, should be carefully observed, as they form im- portant guides in operations. The action of each muscle should also be studied carefull3r. In removing the super- ficial muscles to dissect the deep, never do so at the origin or insertion of the muscle, as, once destroyed, these can never be accurately studied again. A muscle should always be divided between its origin and insertion; and if there be a number of muscles together, as the flexors in the forearm, let each muscle be divided at a different level from its neighbors so that the two ends can be matched correctly.] The arteries of a subject are usuall}' injected, and it is impossible to follow out all the minute branches without this assistance ; but opportunity should be taken by the advanced student to repeat his dissection upon an unin- jected subject, in which the relations and appearance of the parts more closely resemble those of the living body.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21020735_0026.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
