114 D. A. RHINEHART 



six of these ganglia, along the lingual nerve they are far more 

 numerous, being forty-one in number. Along the hypoglossal 

 nerv.e there are scattered smaller ganglia and isolated cells. Fib- 

 ers from the lingual, the glossopharyngeal and even the hypo- 

 glossal nerve can be followed into these ganglia to end in an unde- 

 termined manner among the ganglion cells. 



A count of the cells in these ganglia along the lingual and hy- 

 poglossal nerves was made. Only those in the ganglia in which 

 there is a definite nucleolus were counted, so that the figures 

 obtained are less rather than more than the actual number 

 present. In this one series, in one-half of the tongue, there were 

 1079 cells, 957 along the lingual and 122 along the hypoglossal 

 nerve. 



While the presence of ganglion cells in the tongue has long 

 been known, I have failed to find a reference as to their number 

 or their significance. They are usually dismissed with the state- 

 ment that they are sympathetic cells. I am of the opinion that 

 much will be added to the knowledge of the nerve supply of the 

 tongue when the central connections, the endings of the fibers, 

 and the functions of these ganglion cells have been worked out. 



In this work nothing has been found other than in support of 

 the generally accepted view of the nerve supply of the tongue. 

 That the taste-buds are supplied by the chorda tympani has 

 long been known. The course of the taste-fibers into the brain 

 was, however, for a time, an unsettled question. From clinical 

 cases evidences have been deduced in support of every possible 

 pathway for these fibers into the brain stem. Many of these 

 are included in the review of the literature in the articles by 

 Gushing ('03), Weigner ('05), and Sheldon ('09). 



The carefully conducted experiments, of Gushing ('03) have 

 done much to prove that the taste-fibers enter the brain over 

 the nervus intermedins. In the mouse the anatomical evidence 

 supports this view. No connection, such as was found by Weig- 

 ner ('05) between the chorda tympani and the great superficial 

 petrosal nerve is present, and the entire absence in all my series 

 of a communication from the facial nerve to the tympanic plexus 

 excludes even the possibility that the taste-fibers reach the 

 brain except through the nervus intermedins. 



