Descriptive anatomy : development, microscopic anatomy, bones / by Penn-Gaskell Skillern, jr.

  • Skillern, Penn-Gaskell, 1882-
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Descriptive anatomy : development, microscopic anatomy, bones / by Penn-Gaskell Skillern, jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Relation of Nasal Fossae to Neighboring Spaces. Each nasal fossa communicates with the cranial fossa above by the olfactory foramina and by the foramen cecum, if patent; with the sphenomaxillary fossa by the sphenopala- tine foramen; with the nasopharynx by the posterior nares; with the front of the face by the anterior nares; with the orbit by the nasolacrimal canal; with the mouth by the anterior palatine foramen; and occasionally with each other by an aperture in the septum. The superior meatus communicates with the sphenoidal sinus through the sphenoethmoidal recess, and directly with the posterior ethmoidal sinuses. The middle meatus com- municates with the frontal and ethmoidal sinuses through the hiatus semilunaris, and directly with the maxillary sinus. The inferior meatus, as stated above, communicates with the orbit through the nasolacrimal canal. The sinus in the or- bital process of the palate communicates with the sphenoidal sinus, or assists in closing one or more of the posterior ethmoidal sinuses. It should not be forgotten that the naso- pharynx communicates with the drum of the ear through the Eustachian tube, and that the drum, in turn, communi- cates with the mastoid air cells through the attic and antrum. Hence, no pneumatic space in the skull is so remote that it is not reached, directly or indirectly, by the outside air. Ossa Sutarum. Ossa sutarum, also called Wormian bones in honor of Wormius of Denmark, are irregular ossifications deposited in many skulls in the sutures between some of the cranial bones. They may be as small as the head of a pin, or more than an inch in size. Their number is generally limited to two or three, but more than a hundred have been found in a case of acute hydrocephalus. They are apt to be symmetri- cal on the two sides of the skull, and their margins are adapt- ed to the character of the suture in which they are situated. They may involve the outer, or the inner, or all tables of the skull. They occur most often in the lambdoid and sagit- 18