Jugular Veins
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
veins of the neck veins of the neck which return the blood from the head; Wood from the head; they are three in number, the external, mber, the external, the anterior, and the internal jugular. internal jugelar. (-gur-thä), King of JUGURTHA ur-tha), King of Numidia, son of Mastanabal, who was a anabal, who was a natural son of Masinissa. He was care- He was carefully educated with Adherbal and Adherbal and Hiempsal, the sons of his uncle Micipsa, pis uncle Micipsa, who succeeded Masinissa on the throne. Torres Strait on the the After Micipsa's death Jugurtha soon , , and the E. coast of Austracaused Hiempsal to be murdered ( 119) of North Wales for B. C.)., whereupon Adherbal fled to Rome. Geological Survey Surve of the United Jugurtha succeeded in bribing great part Bing of the Roman Senate, and obtained a dethe survey in Ireland. cision in his favor, freeing him from the in and About charge of the murder of Hiempsal, and " (1842); "Narrative of assigning him a larger share of the kingdom than was given to Adherbal ( 117 Strait, etc." (1847); "A B. C.). But Jugurtha soon invaded Ad herbal's dominions, and, notwithstanding injunctions. by the Romans to the contrary, besieged him in the town of Cirta the Rotown (112 B. c.), and caused him and mand t mans who were captured with him to be with hins put to death with horrible tortures. -rible torte Thereupon war was declared against clared Jugurtha by the Roman people; but, by bribing the generals, Jugurtha contrived for years to baffle the Roman power. He was finally delivered up to the Romans, to and was carried in the triumph of Marius, Jan. 1, 104 B. c., and then flung into then fi a dungeon to die of hunger. Our interest in Jugurtha is due to Sallust's "Jugurthine War."
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's description from 1921 — three veins of the neck, "the external, the anterior, and the internal jugular," returning blood from the head — is still what anatomy students learn, though modern texts usually add the small posterior external jugular as a fourth. What has moved is clinical rather than descriptive: the internal jugular is now one of the standard routes for central venous catheters, used for drug infusion, dialysis access and pressure monitoring, and since the 1990s such punctures are typically guided by bedside ultrasound rather than by feel for landmarks. Inspection of the jugular veins at the bedside, to judge venous pressure and heart function, also became a routine part of the cardiac examination during the twentieth century. The anatomy in this entry reads as well today as it did in 1921.
Written for this edition, 2026.