The myology of the upper and lower extremities of Orycteropus capensis / by John Charles Galton.

  • Galton, John Charles, 1840-
Date:
[1868]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The myology of the upper and lower extremities of Orycteropus capensis / by John Charles Galton. 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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    common flexor of the toes will be noticed under my description of the tibialis posticus. E-app describes, under the old name of “ caro quadrata Sylvii,” an aecessory flexor as present in Myrmecophaga tamandua b According to the same authority, the hallux in this animal has no special flexor, but shares with the other digits the tendinous supply of the common flexor. Flexor brevis digitorum.—This muscle, as in the case of Dasypus, was absent. Meckel observes ^ that it appears most correct to admit that the Edentata are deprived of a small flexor communis, and that that which is described as sueh represents the short head of the perforating flexor, for the reason that the tendons of the former are not perforated, and that the analogy with the anterior member militates in favour of this conclusion. Tibialis posticus.—This muscle took origin from the inner aspeet of the head of the fibula, and from the opposite-looking edge of the posterior portion of the tibia, and in part from the interosseous membrane, the anterior tibial vessels passing between its fibular and tibial heads of origin. It is intimately connected, for nearly the whole of its length in the calf, with the flexor digitorum. A little above the inner malleolus it is continued into two flat tendons, which pass under a strong ligamentous pulley or arch, situated on the posterior aspect of the above process. The deeper of the two tendons, after passing under a strong internal lateral ligament of the ankle, whieh separates it from its fellow, terminates at the posterior part of the inferior ridge of the ento-cuneiform bone (“ hinder part of scaphoid,” according to Prof. Humphry^); while the more superfieial, belonging to the fibular belly of the muscle, divides into two branches, one of which joins by a broad expansion the tendon of the common flexor, while the other terminates at the posterior part of the sesamoid ossicle * which lies alongside of the ento-cuneiform bone, and which is attached, by a ligament proceeding from its anterior extremity, to the inner side of the base of the proximal phalanx of the hallux. Cuvier’s representation of the termination of the last-named tendon is very clear ®. The broad expansion of the first-mentioned braneh of the superficial tendon had con- nexions which are of interest, since they tend to show a differentiation, in an animal belonging to the Bruta, of Si, flexor longus hallucis from the common flexor muscle; for, posteriorly, it was continued tendinous into a muscular offset from a portion of the common flexor which arose from the lower part of the fibula, while, anteriorly, it took a large, nay, almost a principal share in forming the flexor tendon of the haUux. An arrangement somewhat similar to that just described is occasionally met with in Man, according to Bichat in the tendon of the tibialis posticus, of which, besides its usual prolongation to the ento-cuneiform bone, “ sou vent autre prolongement, qui est externe, se poste sous la plante du pied, et se confond avec ses ligamens.” * Op. cit. p. 50. ^ Op. cit. p. 657. ^ Op. cit. p. 315. ^ No mention whatever is made of this ossicle (which exists in Dasypus proportionally better developed) by Prof. Humphry. According to Cuvier, ‘ Ossemens Fossiles,’ he. cit. p. 136, “ I’os surnumeraire du herd interne [of the entocuneiform], s’il existe, est fort petit.” ’ Anat. Comp. pi. 256. fig. 6. * Traite d’Anatomie Descriptive (Paris, 1802), tome ii. p. 324.
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