Velpeau's Anatomy of regions / translated from the French by Henry Hancock.

  • Velpeau, A. (Alfred), 1795-1867.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Velpeau's Anatomy of regions / translated from the French by Henry Hancock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    and their branches; superiorly, the hair, the extent of which varies in different individuals. The skin of the forehead, in both sexes, is thin and smooth during infancy, and the earlier periods of life, but it frequently becomes marked by transverse wrinkles, at its inferior portion, in more advanced age. Superiorly, and externally, it is smooth and thicker, containing the bulbs of the hair, and numerous sebaceous glands. The hair generally pierces it obliquely, forwards and outwards, whence its tendency to follow one or the other of these direc- tions, as it descends towards the face. The cellulo-adipose tissue, situate between the occipito-frontalis muscle and the skin, is commonly very thin anteriorly; its structure is dense and compact, having the adipose cellules closely applied one to the other, especially opposite the temples, where they sometimes form a thick lamella. The intimate union of this membrane with the two layers between which it is placed, explains why wounds of the integuments at this situ- ation are accompanied, so frequently, by erysipelatous inflam- mations, and why tumours are ordinarily circumscribed, glo- bular, or flattened. In all cases, as the subcutaneous layer of the forehead becomes thinner inferiorly, ecchymosis often pro- ceeds to a great extent at the side of the orbits. Finally, the roots of the hair, and sebaceous follicles, are contained within it. Muscles and aponeurosis.—The muscles of the frontal region are, inferiorly, a very small portion of the orbicularis palpe- brarum, more superiorly, the occipito-frontalis, thicker in the middle and inferiorly, where it covers the whole of the bone. The fibres of this latter, being parallel, produce in contracting the transverse wrinkles of that region. It appears, moreover^ that they are developed on the epicranial aponeurosis, which is thin and cellular beneath. Superiorly, and posteriorly, the aponeurosis is strong and fibrous, and is with great difficulty separated from the subcu- taneous layer; as, on the contrary, these unite to the pericra- nium, externally and inferiorly, through the medium of very loose cellular tissue, pus and other formations infiltrate and spread between them, instead of becoming circumscribed tu- mours. This peculiarity should be borne in mind, when we would determine the nature and danger of diseases attacking the frontal regions. The pericranium presents nothing of any importance in this region. We have already observed its relation with the muscle; it is united to the bone by cellular tissue, which is rather lamellous than filamentous, so that it may be easily separated from the skull, in those points where there are no sutures. The arteries, branches of the supra-orbital, the trunk of which is, at first, situated between the orbicular and frontal muscles, ramify in the subcutaneous layer; the anterior division of the