Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.
pages 183
| The squamosal suture arches backward from the pterion and connects the temporal squama with the lower border of the parietal: this suture is continuous behind with the short, nearly horizontal parietomastoid suture, which unites the mastoid process of the temporal with the region of the mastoid angle of the parietal. Extending from above downward and forward across the cranium are the coronal and lambdoidal sutures; the former connects the parietals with the frontal, the latter, the parietals with the occipital. The lambdoidal suture is continuous below with the occipitomastoid suture between the occipital and the mastoid portion of the temporal. In or near the last suture is the mastoid foramen, for the transmission of an emissary vein. The point of meeting of the parietomastoid, occipitomastoid, and lambdoidal sutures is known as the asterion. Immediately above the orbital margin is the superciliary arch, and, at a higher level, the frontal eminence. Near the center of the parietal bone is the parietal eminence. Posteriorly is the external occipital protuberance, from which the superior nuchal line may be followed forward to the mastoid process. Arching across the side of the cranium are the temporal lines, which mark the upper limit of the temporal fossa. |
The Temporal Fossa (fossa temporalis).—The temporal fossa is bounded above and behind by the temporal lines, which extend from the zygomatic process of the frontal bone upward and backward across the frontal and parietal bones, and then curve downward and forward to become continuous with the supramastoid crest and the posterior root of the zygomatic arch. The point where the upper temporal line cuts the coronal suture is named the stephanion. The temporal fossa is bounded in front by the frontal and zygomatic bones, and opening on the back of the latter is the zygomaticotemporal foramen. Laterally the fossa is limited by the zygomatic arch, formed by the zygomatic and temporal bones; below, it is separated from the infratemporal fossa by the infratemporal crest on the great wing of the sphenoid, and by a ridge, continuous with this crest, which is carried backward across the temporal squama to the anterior root of the zygomatic process. In front and below, the fossa communicates with the orbital cavity through the inferior orbital or sphenomaxillary fissure. The floor of the fossa is deeply concave in front and convex behind, and is formed by the zygomatic, frontal, parietal, sphenoid, and temporal bones. It is traversed by vascular furrows; one, usually well-marked, runs upward above and in front of the external acoustic meatus, and lodges the middle temporal artery. Two others, frequently indistinct, may be observed on the anterior part of the floor, and are for the anterior and posterior deep temporal arteries. The temporal fossa contains the Temporalis muscle and its vessels and nerves, together with the zygomaticotemporal nerve. |
| The zygomatic arch is formed by the zygomatic process of the temporal and the temporal process of the zygomatic, the two being united by an oblique suture; the tendon of the Temporalis passes medial to the arch to gain insertion into the coronoid process of the mandible. The zygomatic process of the temporal arises by two roots, an anterior, directed inward in front of the mandibular fossa, where it expands to form the articular tubercle, and a posterior, which runs backward above the external acoustic meatus and is continuous with the supramastoid crest. The upper border of the arch gives attachment to the temporal fascia; the lower border and medial surface give origin to the Masseter. |
| Below the posterior root of the zygomatic arch is the elliptical orifice of the external acoustic meatus, bounded in front, below, and behind by the tympanic part of the temporal bone; to its outer margin the cartilaginous segment of the external acoustic meatus is attached. The small triangular area between the posterior root of the zygomatic arch and the postero-superior part of the orifice is termed the suprameatal triangle, on the anterior border of which a small spinous process, the suprameatal spine, is sometimes seen. Between the tympanic part and the articular tubercle is the mandibular fossa, divided into two parts by the |