NOSE. 



729 



septum, and many more to that of the alae ; 

 many of them, also, first rising and then de- 

 scending, form arches which are continued over 

 the outer and posterior margin of the nostril, 

 and are mingled with the fibres of the two 

 preceding muscles, where they meet in the skin 

 covering that part. 



These muscles draw back and flatten the 

 nostrils. Some of their fibres are mingled with 

 those of the depressor labii snperioris, or su- 

 perior incisive muscle, and, whenever they act, 

 the upper lip is fixed and somewhat elongated. 



5. l)epresxor septi narium, or nasalis labii 

 snperioris, (Haller, Albinus; nasu-latiial, Bour- 

 gery; k, fig. 403 ;) may be regarded as a part of 

 the upper portion of the circumference of the 

 orbicularis oris, from which several fibres pro- 

 ceed forwards and inwards, converging from 

 each side towards the septum of the nose. They 

 are attached to the fibre-cellular tissue at the pos- 

 terior borders of the nostrils, and the middle 

 fibres pass forwards under the septum between 

 it and the skin of the columna, many of them 

 extending nearly to the tip of the nose. 



When the rest of the orbicularis is fixed, this 

 portion will draw the columna and the apex of 

 the nose backwards and downwards; and when 

 the rest of the orbicularis is relaxed, it will 

 draw the middle of the upper lip upwards. 



6. I have mentioned a layer of pale mus- 

 cular fibres arranged in various directions under 

 the skin of the lower part of the ala nasi, 

 among which fibres of the compressor, de- 

 pressor, and levator alae nasi appear to mingle. 

 It is by these fibres that the dilatation of the 

 nostril is commonly effected ; for, as any one 

 may feel and see in his own person, this act is 

 not usually performed by any of the muscles 

 yet described, but by fibres which are situated 

 below the triangularis and entirely within the 

 moveable part of the ala. In most instances, 

 no definite arrangement of these fibres can be 

 perceived ; yet they certainly sometimes form 

 distinct fasciculi, which may be described as 

 separate muscles. Arnold makes from them 

 two muscles: 1. Compressor nurium minor, 

 (g,fig. 403), a small triangular muscle pass- 

 ing from the skin of the tip of the nose back- 

 wards and a little upwards, with its fibres 

 diverging, to the anterior part of the inferior 

 cartilage. Theile has never seen this muscle; 

 in one very muscular subject I found a dis- 

 tinct trace of it; and it nearly corresponds to 

 that which Santorini has drawn, (tab. i. e, e) 

 and which he says he once saw in action du- 

 ring dyspnoea in a woman. He regarded it 

 as a dilator of the anterior part of the pinna ; 

 Arnold considers it a compressor ; the former 

 opinion is the more probable. 2. Arnold 

 has figured a larger quadrilateral muscle, le- 

 vator al<e nasi proprius (h, fig. 403), which is 

 nearly the same as Theile's dilatator narium 

 anterior. Theile describes it as arising from 

 the upper edge and outer surface of the inferior 

 cartilage, its origin extending from within two 

 lines of the dorsum of the nose to the sesa- 

 moid cartilages. Hence its fibres proceed 

 downwards and are lost in the skin on the 

 anterior part of the edge of the nostril. Its 



action is to draw the anterior part of the ala 

 outwards, and thus to dilate the nostril. Theile 

 also describes a dilatator narium posterior, 

 which may be found by removing all the 

 fibres of the common levator, the depressor 

 alae nasi and the triangularis. A mass of cel- 

 lular tissue is thus exposed on the inferior and 

 posterior part of the ala, in which muscular 

 fibres may always be seen with the microscope, 

 if not with the naked eye. They arise tendi- 

 nous from the edge of the ascending process of 

 the superior maxillary bone and from the sesa- 

 moid cartilages, and thence descending are lost 

 in the skin of the posterior half of the edge of 

 the nostril. Their action is to draw the poste- 

 rior part of the ala outwards, and thus to dilate 

 the nostril. 



7. One more muscle may be mentioned, 

 though it is only indirectly connected with the 

 nose. It is that named rhomboideus by San- 

 torini (tab. i. /'), and unomalus by Albinus, 

 from its being fixed at both its ends to immovable 

 points. Its origin is confounded with that of 

 the triangularis at the upper and outer part of 

 the canine fossa ; whence its fibres proceed in 

 a broad fasciculus upwards and inwards in the 

 fossa by the side of the nose to be attached to 

 the surface of the superior maxillary bone close 

 to the outer origin of the levator communis. 

 The strength of the fibres of this singular mus- 

 cle indicates that they must act frequently; but 

 the only effect which their contraction can be 

 supposed to have is that of tightening and 

 drawing in the tissues over them with which 

 they are pretty closely connected. 



The purposes served by the muscles of the 

 nose are but few. Their action contributes 

 little to the various expressions of the con- 

 dition of the mind. The sneer of contempt 

 is perhaps the only expression in which they 

 take a chief part. In extreme fear they appeal- 

 also to be all contracted ; but in this they are 

 affected in common with the other muscles of 

 the face, which all seem to be seized by a tem- 

 porary spasm. Their other acts have reference 

 to respiration, and are observed in their ex- 

 treme degrees, in the dilatation of the nostrils 

 to permit the freer ingress of the air in dys- 

 pnoea, and in their contraction in the endea- 

 vour to perceive a slight odour, by drawing the 

 air quickly upwards towards the seat of the 

 most numerous filaments of the olfactory nerve. 



Integuments of the nose. In their general 

 characters these resemble the skin and mucous 

 membrane of other parts : their peculiarities 

 alone therefore need be here described. 



The skin of the nose is smooth and fine, its 

 papillae being small and its cuticle very thin. 

 It is soft, also, and pliant, and usually abun- 

 dantly furnished with the sebaceous secretion. 

 The hairs growing in it are numerous and ex- 

 ceedingly fine, so that many have denied their 

 existence ; the largest and most closely set are 

 at the lower part of the alae. The follicles 

 enclosing them are deep and narrow ; the co- 

 nical pulps long and slender. The sebaceous 

 glands are narrow and elongated ; they lie near 

 the sides of the follicles, have very short ducts, 

 and are placed at but a little distance below 



