352 CHARLES BROOKOVER 



Running distally through the cribriform plate of the ethmoid 

 bone are three or four stout rami, each of which is larger than 

 the central root of the nerve. These rami in their passage 

 through the lamina cribrosa are noticeably devoid of the nerve 

 cells characteristic of the n. terminalis elsewhere. In the pos- 

 terior large branch two or three cells were found (fig. 1). 



Though sagittal sections cut in the direction of the course of 

 the main rami are not favorable for counting fibers, it was esti- 

 mated that the large posterior ramus contains about two hun- 

 dred. Perhaps all the other peripheral rami together have an 

 equal number. In the plane of the sections the large posterior 

 ramus measures about 200 micra in transverse diameter. It 

 would appear that these rami here and elsewhere peripherally, 

 are somewhat flattened into the sagittal plane since they are 

 usually comprised within three sections of 20 micra Periph- 

 eral to the lamina cribrosa these rami become slightly broader 

 with open interlacing fibers (fig. 2) and where well impregnated 

 could be seen with the naked eye when the sections were held 

 over a white surface. This flat shape of the nerve rami gives 

 undue prominence, in sagittal sections and this is shghtly exag- 

 gerated by the heavy shading in figure 1. In sections cut 

 perpendicularly to the nasal mucosa it is frequently difficult 

 to find any trace of the n. terminalis. 



However, the n. terminalis in man is of so considerable bulk that 

 it would seem strange that it should have been so long over- 

 looked in sections of the nasal mucosa. It was somewhat sur- 

 prising to find, on counting the total nerve cells found in the 

 sections of the right side peripheral to the lamina cribrosa of 

 this infant, that they number fifteen hundred and seventy-eight. 

 It might be thought that, since the nuclei did not show for the 

 count in all instances, this number is too great But the short 

 diameter of the nerve cells which generally have their long axes 

 in the plane of these sections, is about the same as the thickness 



Fig. 2 The posterior ventral portion of figure 1 to show distribution of the 

 cells in the n. terminalis and in outline a possible posterior sympathetic con- 

 nection through the nasopalatine to the sphenopalatine ganglion. Seen from 

 the lateral side. X 40. 



