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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 1144

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

pages 1144

basilar portion of the occipital and the petrous portions of the temporal bones. As it descends it diminishes in thickness, and is gradually lost. It is strengthened posteriorly by a strong fibrous band, which is attached above to the pharyngeal spine on the under surface of the basilar portion of the occipital bone, and passes downward, forming a median raphé, which gives attachment to the Constrictores pharyngis.
  The mucous coat is continuous with that lining the auditory tubes, the nasal cavities, the mouth, and the larynx. In the nasal part of the pharynx it is covered by columnar ciliated epithelium; in the oral and laryngeal portions the epithelium is stratified squamous. Beneath the mucous membrane are found racemose mucous glands; they are especially numerous at the upper part of the pharynx around the orifices of the auditory tubes.


FIG. 1031– Muscles of the pharynx, viewed from behind, together with the associated vessels and nerves. (Modified after Testut.) (See enlarged image)
 
2d. The Esophagus
 
  The esophagus (Fig. 1032) or gullet is a muscular canal, about 23 to 25 cm. long, extending from the pharynx to the stomach. It begins in the neck at the lower border of the cricoid cartilage, opposite the sixth cervical vertebra, descends along the front of the vertebral column, through the superior and posterior mediastina, passes through the diaphragm, and, entering the abdomen, ends at the cardiac