Fig. 20 (Spalteholz). Shows the thyroid cartilage above and the cricoid below both viewed from the side. The anterior surface is turned toward the right.
Fig. 21 (Spalteholz). A front view of Fig. 20.
| Fig. 22 (Spalteholz). The back or signet surface of the cricoid or ring cartilage, to which several muscles are attached. | Fig. 23 (Spalteholz). The cricoid cartilage, seen from the side, and showing behind and laterally the articular or joint surfaces by which it connects with the thyroid below and the arytenoid cartilage above. |
Fig. 24 (Spalteholz). Shows the arytenoid cartilages, the most important of all the cartilages of the larynx, inasmuch as to the part termed "vocal process" the vocal band is attached on each side. The movements of the vocal bands are nearly all determined by the movements of these cartilages, which have a swivel-like action. In the above the front surfaces are turned toward each other.
The cricoid (krikos, a signet-ring) is the cartilage next in size. It is situated below the thyroid cartilage, with which it is connected by a membrane, the crico-thyroid. The wider part of this signet-ring is situated behind, where it affords attachment to large muscles. It also furnishes a base of support for two very important structures, the arytenoid (arutaina, a ladle) cartilages. As the vocal bands are attached behind to them, and as they have a large degree of mobility, they are from a physiological point of view the most important of all the solid structures of the larynx.
There are two pairs of small bodies, the cartilages of Santorini, or cornicula laryngis, surmounting the arytenoids, and the cuneiform, or cartilages of Wrisberg, situated in the folds of mucous membrane on each side of the arytenoids; but these structures are of little importance.