104 ORIGINAL ABTICLES. 



walled-iu by sucli a thick and almost enamelled carapace of solidly 

 wedged plates, that it is only tlie end of the tail that appears 

 heyond this strong coat of armour. The vertebral column has no 

 mobility whatever, and is quite destitute of muscles ; the bodies of the 

 vertebrae are not anchylosed, but they and their superior arches are so 

 firmly united by sutui'es, that flexion or extension between them, or 

 throughout the whole length of the column, is perfectly impossible. 

 This is, perhaps, the only instance of true suturse between vertebrsB 

 to be met with in the animal kingdom, 



12, On the Arteria mediana lingiice. 



There is a small artery of this name, which has been overlooked 

 by all anatomists. Ordinary injection materials will not be fine 

 enough to demonstrate it, but the material which I make use of in my 

 microscopic injections, answers however admirably, Diu'ing the 

 many years I have been engaged in the preparation of anatomical 

 injections, I have met with this artery so often, as to be able to 

 exhibit a series (niunbering some dozens) of specimens, in which it 

 may be seen in its difterent stages of evolution. From this little 

 troop of human tongues we derive the following information: — 



The Arteria dorsalis linguae supplies the basal portion of the 

 superior svu'face of the tongue, that portion between the papillae 

 circumvallatae and the epiglottis, it then spreads itself into a number 

 of branches, each of which is very fine and superficial; the posterior 

 branches of the one side, meet with the branches from the other 

 in the median line, at the base of the tongue; a median artery is 

 formed after the same manner, as the two vertebral arteries unite to 

 form the basilar artery in the cavity of the skull. 



The Arteria mediana linguae runs forward to the point of the 

 angle formed by the two comerging lines of the papillae vallatae — 

 here it either ends or divides, and surrounds the larger papillae, and is 

 then continued on as a single vessel, which continues its onward 

 course to the top of the tongue. This artery is of very small size, 

 but it is situated so superficially, as to be easily seen without any 

 preparation. It is contained in the mucous membrane of the tongue, 

 not below it, as in all the other arteries of this organ. When the 

 artery, in a well injected tongue, is not at once apparent, a little 

 manipulation will soon reveal it. There are tongues whose siu-face is 

 not very rich in filiform papillae, and tliese too, very short, so that 

 the tongue resembles a close cut-velvet ; such tongues will show 

 this artery without any help from the scalpel; but when the filiform 

 papilUe are very long and densely set (such tongues are called in 

 German, " pelzige Zungen"), the artery may be best seen and dissected 

 out by dividing the papiUae in the middle Hue of the tongue by a 

 pin, or better by shaving the surface of the tongue with a razor. 



Perhaps I have dwelt too long on a vessel, which, if wounded, 

 would not yield three drops of blood ; but every anatomist likes to 



