PXEUMOGASTRIC NERVE. 207 



will be seen that the abdominal branches are not the same. 

 The most important branches are the following : 



1. Auricular. 



2. Pharyngeal. 



3. Superior laryngeal. 



4. Inferior, or recurrent laryngeal. 



5. Cardiac, cervical and thoracic. 



6. Pulmonary, anterior and posterior. 



7. (Esophageal. 



8. Abdominal. 



The auricular nerves are sometimes described in connec- 

 tion with the facial. They are given off from the ganglion 

 of the trunk, and are composed of filaments of communica- 

 tion from the facial and from the glosso-pharyngeal, as well 

 as of filaments from the pneumogastric itself. The nerve 

 thus constituted is distributed to the integument of the up- 

 per portion of the external auditory meatus, and a small 

 filament, according to Sappey, is sent to the membrana 

 tympani. 1 



The pharyngeal nerves are very remarkable in their 

 course. They are given off from the superior portion of 

 the ganglion of the trunk, and contain a large number of 

 the filaments of communication which the pneumogastric 

 receives from the spinal accessory. In their course by the 

 sides of the superior constrictor muscles of the pharynx, 

 these nerves anastomose with numerous filaments from the 

 glosso-pharyngeal and the superior cervical ganglion of the 

 sympathetic, to form what is known as the pharyngeal 

 plexus. The ultimate filaments of distribution pass to the 

 muscles and the mucous membrane of the pharynx. Physi- 

 ological experiments have shown that the motor influence 

 transmitted to the pharyngeal muscles through the pharyn- 

 geal branches of the pneumogastric is derived from the spi- 

 nal accessory. 2 



The superior laryngeal nerves are given off from the 



1 SAPPEY, Traite cT anatomic, Paris, 1852, tome ii., p. 287. 8 See page 175. 

 114 



