The femoral vessels, K I, contained in their proper sheath, lie immediately beneath the iliac part of the fascia lata, in that angle which is expressed by Poupart’s ligament, along the line C D above; by the sartorius muscle in the line C M externally; and by a line drawn from D to N, corresponding to the pectineus muscle internally. The femoral vein, I, lies close to the outer margin of the saphenous opening. The artery, K, lies close to the outer side of the vein; and external to the artery is seen, L, the anterior crural nerve, sending off its superficial and deep branches.
When a femoral hernia protrudes at the saphenous space L h, Pl. 28, the dense falciform process, h, embraces its outer side, while the pubic portion of the fascia, L, lies beneath it. The cord, K, is placed on the inner side of the hernia; the cribriform fascia covers it; and the upper end of the saphena vein, M, passes beneath its lower border. The upper cornu, h, Pl. 29, of the falciform process would seem, by its situation, to be one of the parts which constrict a crural hernia. An inguinal hernia, which descends the cord, K, Pl. 28, provided it passes no further than the point indicated at K, and a crural hernia turning upwards from the saphenous interval over the cord at K, are very likely to present some difficulty in distinctive diagnosis.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF PLATES 28 & 29.
PLATE 28.
A. The fleshy part of the external oblique muscle; a, its tendon icovering the rectus muscle.
B. The umbilicus.
C. The anterior superior spinous process of the ilium.
D. The spinous process of the os pubis.
E. The point where in this instance the fibres of the aponeurotic tendon iof the external oblique muscle begin to separate and form the pillars iof the external ring.
F G. See Plate 29.