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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 141

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 141

tympani nerve passes through a canal (canal of Huguier), separated from the anterior edge of the petrotympanic fissure by a thin scale of bone and situated on the lateral side of the auditory tube, in the retiring angle between the squama and the petrous portion of the temporal.


FIG. 138– Left temporal bone. Inner surface. (See enlarged image)
  The internal surface of the squama (Fig. 138) is concave; it presents depressions corresponding to the convolutions of the temporal lobe of the brain, and grooves for the branches of the middle meningeal vessels.

Borders.—The superior border is thin, and bevelled at the expense of the internal table, so as to overlap the squamous border of the parietal bone, forming with it the squamosal suture. Posteriorly, the superior border forms an angle, the parietal notch, with the mastoid portion of the bone. The antero-inferior border is thick, serrated, and bevelled at the expense of the inner table above and of the outer below, for articulation with the great wing of the sphenoid.

Mastoid Portion (pars mastoidea).—The mastoid portion forms the posterior part of the bone.


FIG. 139– Coronal section of right temporal bone. (See enlarged image)

Surfaces.—Its outer surface (Fig. 137) is rough, and gives attachment to the Occipitalis and Auricularis posterior. It is perforated by numerous foramina; one of these, of large size, situated near the posterior border, is termed the mastoid foramen; it transmits a vein to the transverse sinus and a small branch of the occipital artery to the dura mater. The position and size of this foramen are very variable; it is not always present; sometimes it is situated in the occipital bone, or in the suture between the temporal and the occipital. The mastoid portion is continued below into a conical projection, the mastoid process, the size and form of which very somewhat; it is larger in the male than in the female. This process serves for the attachment of the Sternocleidomastoideus, Splenius capitis, and Longissimus capitis. On the medial side of the process is a deep groove, the mastoid notch (digastric fossa), for the attachment of the Digastricus; medial to this is a shallow furrow, the occipital groove, which lodges the occipital artery.