234 Mr. Shaw ou ihe Facial Nerves. 



Portio Dura leads me to suspect that the expression of rao;c, 

 however terrible, must be quite different from that of the feroci- 

 ous snarl of the lion. In the face it must be in a great measure 

 confined to the contortions of the proboscis, and to the eye, 

 for, excepting a few branches to the eyelids, the distribution of 

 the nerve of respiration and expression is confined almost en- 

 tirely to the proboscis*. 



M. Cuvier's collection, in which the spinal accessory nerve might be seen ; 

 but on examining the preparation, I could find no trace of the nerve. There 

 were some little filaments pointed out to me, as the oris;in of the nerve, 

 but to this I could not assent. If these fibres, (which, however, in the 

 present state of the preparation are very obscure,) be compared with the 

 origin of the spinal accessory, even in the sheep, we shall be forced to 

 conclude that, if there be a nerve of this kind in the camel, it is so small 

 that the truth of the opinion, as to the use of the nerve in other animals, 

 cannot be affected. 



* During the last winter I often visited the Menagerie in Exeter Change, 

 to study the motions and uses of the proboscis of the elephant, and this 

 1 had a good opportunity of doing, as the small elephant there, was so 

 gentle, that he permitted me to handle his trunk freely. From the great 

 power which the elephant has over his trunk, as a machine, I was certain 

 that there must be large nerves running to it, similar to those which sup- 

 ply the fingers in man ; but as the proboscis forms an important part in 

 the respiratory system of this animal, I thought that, in the dissection of 

 it, there would be the most distinct proof of the accuracy or fallacy of 

 Mr. Bell's opinions on the subject of the Portio Dura. The animal died 

 in the month of May, and, through the kindness of ray friend Mr. Mayo, 

 I was enabled to make an examination of the nerves of the trunk. The 

 dissection was most satisfactory, for the trunk was found to be supplied, 

 not only by branches of the Vth. pair, as described by Cuvier, but also by 

 3. very large branch from the Portio Dura. 



The Poriio Dura in this elephant was found emerging from the parotid 

 "•land, as in other mammalia. It gave off some descending branches to 

 the neck, but passed from behind the jaw to the proboscis, almost as an 

 entire nerve, and of the size of the sciatic nerve in man : in its course it 

 had only given some small branches to the muscles of the eye, to those of 

 the ear, and to a small muscle which corresponds with the platysma. 

 ■ Before it passed into the substance of the proboscis, it united with the 

 second division of the Vth. pair, whicli comes forward from the infra or- 

 bital hole, in two large branches. The two nerves being then closely 

 united, passed between the layers of the muscles, which form tiie greater 



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