THE NERVUS TERMINALIS IN ADULT MAN 



CHARLES BROOKOVER 



A preliminary account from the Anatomical Department of (he Medical Department 

 of the University of Arkansas 



THREE FIGURES 



Knowing that the nervus terminaUs had been found in adult 

 mammals by McCotter ('13) and others, and in human embryos 

 by Johnston ('13) we decided to look for the nerve in human 

 fetuses and in adults. Sections through the head of a fetus 

 measuring 38 mm. head-rump length revealed essentially the 

 same relations of the cells of the nervus terminalis as that de- 

 scribed by Johnston for a slightly smaller embryo. Sections of 

 the region containing the fila oLfactoria and the nasal mucous 

 membrane of fetuses of 90 mm. and 130 mm. head-rump length 

 showed the nerve cells of the nervus terminahs to have increased 

 in number intra-cranially as well as peripherally. Later we dis- 

 covered these large nerve cells in sections of the adult fila olfac- 

 toria and the dura mater in the region of the cribriform plate 

 of the ethmoid bone. 



Most of the cells of the nerve in adult man found up to the 

 present time are located median to the olfactory bulbs on the 

 surface of the dura mater or embedded within the dura as far 

 ventrally and peripherally as the cribriform plate. The num- 

 ber is estimated to be between one and two hundred. As in 

 many other forms of vertebrates, these cells are located along 

 a bundle of fibers appearing similar to the fila olfactoria with 

 their characteristic sheath cells. This bundle keeps a median 

 position to the fila olfactoria, but is not distinct enough periph- 

 erally to be followed in any of the series of sections so far 

 made to permit of its being traced into the nasal mucous mem- 

 brane as a separate and distinct bundle. 



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