Observations on the physiology of the larynx / by John Wyllie, M.D.

  • Wyllie, John.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the physiology of the larynx / by John Wyllie, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    and in others, the sheep for example, dividing in front into two pro- cesses, each of which becomes attached to one of the stjlo-hyal bones, just above their articulation to the front of the os hyoides. With the existence of this strong elevator muscle we find no corre- sponding development of the depressors, they are here as weak and thin as in the human subject. It is, then, very improbable that, in depressing the epiglottis, they alone should be the agents employed. Let us see if, in the phenomena of deglutition, we can find anything which may render them assistance. When the parts concerned in the act of swallowing are carefully dissected, two ligaments are found which are specially adapted to support the epiglottis when the larynx is at rest.^ The Epiglottis and its Ligaments. A, The epiglottis. B, The base of the tongue. C C, The cornua of the hyoid bone. D, The glosso-epiglottic ligament. E, The hyo-epiglottic ligament. First, there is the glosso-epiglottic ligament. This has been called by some anatomists the froenum ejpiglottidis. It seems to be the prolongation backwards of the fibrous septum of the tongue, and at its origin many of the muscular fibres of the cortex are inserted into it. Posteriorly, it crosses the hyoid bone, and ^ These ligaments have been carefully described by Bishop in his article on the Larynx, in Todd's Cyclopsedia of Anatomy and Physiology, and by other special writers on the larynx; but they are overlooked by the author of an ordinary text-book.