Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.
| anterior median artery, which extend as far as the lower part of the medulla spinalis, and is continued as a slender twig on the filum terminale. This vessel is placed in the pia mater along the anterior median fissure; it supplies that membrane, and the substance of the medulla spinalis, and sends off branches at its lower part to be distributed to the cauda equina. |
| The Posterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery (a. cerebelli inferior posterior) (Fig. 516), the largest branch of the vertebral, winds backward around the upper part of the medulla oblongata, passing between the origins of the vagus and accessory nerves, over the inferior peduncle to the under surface of the cerebellum, where it divides into two branches. The medial branch is continued backward to the notch between the two hemispheres of the cerebellum; while the lateral supplies the under surface of the cerebellum, as far as its lateral border, where it anastomoses with the anterior inferior cerebellar and the superior cerebellar branches of the basilar artery. Branches from this artery supply the choroid plexus of the fourth ventricle. |
| The Medullary Arteries (bulbar arteries) are several minute vessels which spring from the vertebral and its branches and are distributed to the medulla oblongata. |
| The Basilar Artery (a. basilaris) (Fig. 516), so named from its position at the base of the skull, is a single trunk formed by the junction of the two vertebral arteries: it extends from the lower to the upper border of the pons, lying in its median groove, under cover of the arachnoid. It ends by dividing into the two posterior cerebral arteries. |
| Its branches, on either side, are the following: |
| Pontine. |
| Anterior Inferior Cerebellar. | | Internal Auditory. |
| Superior Cerebellar. | | Posterior Cerebral. | |
| The pontine branches (rami ad pontem; transverse branches) are a number of small vessels which come off at right angles from either side of the basilar artery and supply the pons and adjacent parts of the brain. |
| The internal auditory artery (a. auditiva interna; auditory artery), a long slender branch, arises from near the middle of the artery; it accompanies the acoustic nerve through the internal acoustic meatus, and is distributed to the internal ear. |
| The anterior inferior cerebellar artery (a. cerebelli inferior anterior) passes backward to be distributed to the anterior part of the under surface of the cerebellum, anastomosing with the posterior inferior cerebellar branch of the vertebral. |
| The superior cerebellar artery (a. cerebelli superior) arises near the termination of the basilar. It passes lateralward, immediately below the oculomotor nerve, which separates it from the posterior cerebral artery, winds around the cerebral peduncle, close to the trochlear nerve, and, arriving at the upper surface of the cerebellum, divides into branches which ramify in the pia mater and anastomose with those of the inferior cerebellar arteries. Several branches are given to the pineal body, the anterior medullary velum, and the tela chorioidea of the third ventricle. |
| The posterior cerebral artery (a. cerebri posterior) (Figs. 516, 517, 518) is larger than the preceding, from which it is separated near its origin by the oculomotor nerve. Passing lateralward, parallel to the superior cerebellar artery, and receiving the posterior communicating from the internal carotid, it winds around the cerebral peduncle, and reaches the tentorial surface of the occipital lobe of the cerebrum, where it breaks up into branches for the supply of the temporal and occipital lobes. |
| The branches of the posterior cerebral artery are divided into two sets, ganglionic and cortical: |
| Ganglionic | Posterior-medial. | Cortical | Anterior Temporal. | | Posterior Choroidal. | Posterior Temporal. | | Postero-lateral. | Calcarine. |
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| Parietoöccipital. | |
