The Dublin dissector; comprising a concise description of the bones, muscles, vessels, nerves, and viscera ...

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1831 Excerpt: ...two or three inches of the heel; the plantaris muscle is now also exposed. Plantaris arises fleshy from the back part of the femur above the external condyle, and from the posterior ligament of the knee; it is connected to the external head of the gastrocnemius, and forms a small pyramidal fleshy belly, which descends obliquely inwards, crosses the popliteal vessels, and ends in a flat tendon (the longest in the body) which descends between the gastrocnemius and solaeus; and when the tendons of these muscles are about to unite, that of the plantaris becomes superficial, it then descends along the inner side of the tendo Achillis to the heel, and is inserted into the posterior part of the os calcis, a little anterior to the tendo Achillis; it has also some connexion to the plantar fascia. Use, to extend the foot, and turn it inwards, also to make tense the fascia, and to flex the knee; its origin is partly concealed by the external head of the gastrocnemius; its tendon also is at first covered by this muscle, but inferiorly it is superficial. This muscle is sometimes wanting. Soleus, of an oval flattened figure, consists superiorly of two heads, which are not so distinct from each other as those of the gastrocnemius; the external is longer and larger than the internal, and arises from the back part of the head and from the superior third of the fibula, behind the peronaeus longus: the internal head arises from the middle third of the tibia commencing below the oblique insertion of the poplitseus; the two heads are connected by a strong tendinous arch, beneath which pass the posterior tibial nerve and vessels; all the fibres descend and form a large oval belly, which continues fleshy lower than the gastrocnemius; a tendon is formed first on its superficial su...