190 NEBVOUS SYSTEM. 



stated that the root of the fifth was divided in the cranial 

 cavity in pigeons ; 1 but this was with reference chiefly to the 

 movements of the iris, though Mayo notes that after division 

 of the nerve " the surface of the eyeball appears to have lost 

 its feeling." 



In 1823, Fodera published an account of experiments in 

 which he had divided the roots of the fifth in living animals 

 (rabbits) by introducing a small knife through an opening 

 in the parietal bone, along the base of the skull, and cutting 

 through the roots near the Gasserian ganglion. The opera- 

 tion was followed by complete loss of sensibility upon the 

 side on which the nerve had been divided. 8 In this and 

 other experiments, however, the animals died a short time 

 after the operation. The paper was presented to the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, December 31, 1822, and was published at 

 about the same time as the experiments of Mayo. 



In 1824, Magendie published an account of his experi- 

 ments on the fifth pair. 3 He divided the nerve at its root, 

 by introducing a small stylet through the skull, and noted 

 immediate loss of sensibility on the corresponding side of 

 the face. Magendie was the first to succeed in keeping the 

 animals alive, observing certain interesting remote effects of 

 division of the nerve. 



The operative procedure employed by Magendie has 

 been followed, with great success, by other physiologists, 

 particularly Bernard, to whose researches we are indebted 

 for many additional facts of interest concerning the func- 

 tions of the fifth nerve. As this is an operation which we 

 have frequently performed with success, following the mi- 



1 MAYO, Anatomical and Physiological Commentaries, Number ii., London, 

 1823, p. 5. 



2 FODERA, Recherches experimentales sur le systeme nerveux. Journal de physi- 

 ologie, Paris, 1823, tome iii., p. 207. 



3 MAGENDIE, De Vinfluence de la cinquieme paire de nerfs sur la nutrition et 

 les fonctions de Peril. Journal de physiologic, Paris, 1824, tome iv., p. 176, et 

 seq. ; and, Suite des experiences sur les fonctions de la cinquieme paire, Ibid., p. 

 302, et seq. 



