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

pages 566

 
3a. 4. The Internal Carotid Artery
 
  
(A. Carotis Interna)


The internal carotid artery (Fig. 513) supplies the anterior part of the brain, the eye and its appendages, and sends branches to the forehead and nose. Its size, in the adult, is equal to that of the external carotid, though, in the child, it is larger than that vessel. It is remarkable for the number of curvatures that it presents in different parts of its course. It occasionally has one or two flexures near the base of the skull, while in its passage through the carotid canal and along the side of the body of the sphenoid bone it describes a double curvature and resembles the italic letter S.


FIG. 513– The internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Right side. (See enlarged image)