The Pharyngea Ascendens Artery may be exposed by the dissection recommended for exposing the internal carotid, and therefore the student would find it more expedient to defer its examination for the present; he may, however, study its relations in the neck.

The pharyngea ascendens is the first and smallest branch of the external carotid. After its origin it ascends in the neck, being related,—posteriorly to the spinal column, the rectus anticus muscle, and the superior laryngeal nerve;—anteriorly to the stylo-pharyngeus muscle,—internally to the pharynx, and externally to the superior cervical, ganglion of the sympathetic nerve. In this course it gives off a few irregular branches to the muscles of the pharynx, and terminates by dividing into two branches, the pharyngeal and meningeal.

The Pharyngeal Branch

The Pharyngeal Branch passes obliquely upwards and inwards, and sends off a number of twigs, some of which ascend through the superior constrictor of the pharynx, while others descend in the substance of the middle and inferior constrictors: they anastomose with branches of the superior thyroid and lingual arteries.