Observations on the anatomy of Nycticebus tardigradus / by St. George Mivart and James Murie.

  • Mivart, St. George Jackson, 1827-1900.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the anatomy of Nycticebus tardigradus / by St. George Mivart and James Murie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    whatever of any division of the tendon of this muscle, a fortiori not of its muscular part. The extensor longus digitorum is a very slender muscle, the smallest of the leg-extensors and flexors of the lower limb ; yet it has a double origin, as also in Cheirotngs1. The smaller head arises by a thin muscular bundle from the outer side of the tuberosity of the tibia, with also a small pencil of fibres coming from the inner side of the head of the fibula; the larger origin consists of a rhomboidal, flat, muscular fasciculus attached to the inner side of the middle third of the fibula. The muscle gives a tendon which splits into four sub- divisions, sending one to each of the four outer digits, that to the index being the smallest. The extensor longus hallucis is of about equal magnitude with the preceding, but quite distinct from it. It arises from more than the upper half of the external margin of the tibia. Its tendon is in- serted into the proximal end of the last phalanx of the hallux (fig. 6, E. 1. h). In Loris, according to Meckel3, this muscle seems to be con- founded with the extensor longus digitorum. The peroneus longus is remarkable for its great extent, covering about one-half of the anterior surface of the leg ; but there is nothing unusual in its origin or insertion (fig. 6, P. 1). The *peroneus quinti digiti is very distinctly developed, the muscular fibre being of considerable length. It arises between the peroneus longus and peroneus brevis, completely hidden by them, and is inserted by an extremely delicate tendon into the proximal end of the second phalanx of the fifth digit (fig. 6, P. q. d). This muscle, we believe, was first described under the above name by Professor Huxley3, in his Hunterian Lectures for 1864 ; but it has been noticed by Meckel4 among the extensors of the digits. Burdach5 has also described it under the name peroneus tertius; and W. S. Church3 likewise refers to it under the same designation. But this muscle can scarcely be the homologue of the peroneus ter- tius of Man, inasmuch as it arises not on the tibial side of the pero neus brevis, but on the fibular side. Moreover Professor Huxley remarks, it is sometimes represented in Man by a slip from the ten- don of the peroneus brevis. The gastrocnemius.—It is difficult to understand how Professors S. Van der Kolk and W. Yrolik can have asserted that “ les jumeaux et le muscle soUare sont trcs-forts,” unless they have mistaken one head of the flexor longus digitorum for part of the gastrocnemius. It is the more probable that they have done so, as they have de- scribed the semimembranosus as “ embrassant les jumeaux,” whereas it is the flexor communis longus which this muscle directly embraces. So far from being “ tres-fort,” the gastrocnemius is exceedingly 1 Owen, l. c. p. 68, pi. 25. figs. 1, 3. no. 35. ! Anat. Comp. vol. vi. p. 499. 3 Med. Times and Gaz., 9th July, 1864, p. 40. 4 Anat. Comp. vol. vi. pp. 438 and 440. 0 Nat. Hist. Review, Jan. 1862, p. 92. [12] 8 Loc. cit. pp. 46-55.