NECK. Gr. TeiLX1P\ 05 ; Lat. callow, cer vix; Fr. le con ; Iial. it collo ; Ger. der Hale. This word denotes that contracted, ribless por tion of the trunk or column of support, which, in vertebrate animals, immediately sustains the head. Disease and accidental lesions so fre quently submit it to surgical examinations and operative treatment, that familiar acquaintance with its intricate anatomy is of indispensable necessity to the practitioner.
The order which I shall adopt in the ensuing article is, first, to describe fully and in order the muscles and fascia of the neck, and sub sequently the various regions into which it may be divided with the parts contained in them; the earlier portion giving, as it were, a mere skeleton view or diagram of the anatomy ; the latter presenting the organs in their more natural, or regional arrangement, and treating of them in their living relations to disease, casualty, and surgical operation. I should recommend the student of this important part to pursue a similar plan ; first, namely, thoroughly to im press on his mind those relatively firm and fixed textures which admit of practical use as land marks, and not, till this task is completed and these anatomical boundary lines are vividly and individually before him, to fill up his sketch with important organs, or perplex his mind with their surgical relations.
The muscles of the posterior region of the neck and those of the shoulder having been described in a previous article (see Baca), the remainder may be considered in three classes 1. those which most nearly cleave to the vertebra, are attached to their processes, and principally affect their motions ; 2. those, chiefly in or near the median plane, which belong to the cervical portions of the respiratory and digestive apparatus, to the pharynx, larynx, tongue, and os hyoides ; 3. the superficial muscles of the side of the neck, the sterno cleido-mastoideus, and the platysma myoides. The first class includes--1. anti riorly, the
longus colli and rectus capitis anticus major; 2. laterally, the scalenus anticus, scalenus pos ticus, and inter-transversales, with which may be reckoned the rectus capitis lateralis and rectus capitis anticus minor.
1. Anterior vertebral muscles.—M. longue colli Pre-dorso-aloidien: Chauss.) is a thin elongated muscle, which occupies an extent in the pre-vertebral region, corresponding to the three upper dorsal and to all the cervical ver tebra. In form it is triangular, having its base at the bodies of these vertebra, and its truncated apex at the middle transverse pro cesses of the cervical region, and consists of three distinct, though united, parts, which would be represented by the three sides of such a triangle. One portion, the largest, is nearly ver tical, next to the median line, and a direct flexor of the spine : it originates from the bodies of the three upper dorsal and four lower cer vical vertebra, as also from the intervening fibro-cartilages, and, ascending, is inserted by two slips into the anterior surface of the bodies of the second and third vertebra. The second part is directed from the transverse processes of the third, fourth, and -arvical vertebra., at which it arisesby tendinous slips,—upward and inward to be inserted into the anterior tubercle of the atlas, and it so continues to that bone the previous insertion of the muscle. The remain ing part detaches itself from the main body of the muscle at the bottom of the neck, and ascends obliquely outward, to infix itself by small tendons at the anterior tubercles of the transverse processes of the third and fourth cervical vertebra. The muscle may, in short, be described as passing from the bodies of the three upper dorsal and four lower to those of the three remaining cervical vertebra, receiving above an oblique reinforcement from the middle transverse processes of the neck, to which it has likewise below detached slips of insertion.