CHORDA TYMPANI. 237 



beyond question that, in cases of facial palsy in which the 

 lesion affects the root so deeply as to involve the chorda tym- 

 pani, there is loss of taste in the anterior two-thirds of the 

 tongue, tactile sensibility being unaffected. Cases illustrating 

 this fact have been cited by Stich, 1 Bernard, 9 Lusanna, 8 Bazire, 4 

 and many others. In another volume, we have given the re- 

 port of a case of facial paralysis produced by a gunshot- 

 wound through the head, in which we observed that the sense 

 of taste was entirely abolished in the anterior portion of the 

 tongue on the affected side. 6 



Aside from cases of paralysis of the facial with impair- 

 ment of taste, in which the general sensibility of the tongue 

 is intact, numerous instances are on record of affections of- 

 the fifth pair, in which the tongue is absolutely insensible to 

 ordinary impressions, the sense of taste being preserved. A 

 number of such cases have been reported by Schiff, 6 Lusanna, 7 

 and others ; and show conclusively that the fifth pair presides 

 over general sensibility only, and that it is not a gustatory 

 nerve, except by virtue of filaments derived from the chorda 

 tympani. 



Passing from the consideration of pathological cases to 

 experiments upon living animals, the results are equally satis- 

 factory. Although it is somewhat difficult to observe im- 



1 STICH, Beitrdge zur Kenntniss der Chorda tympani. Annalen des Charite- 

 KranJcenhauses, etc., zu Berlin, Berlin, 1857, Bd. viii., S. 69, et seq. 



2 BERNARD, Lecons sur la physiologic et la pathologie du systeme nerveux, Paris, 

 1858, tome ii., p. 120, et seq. 



8 LUSANNA, Recherches experimentales et observations pathologiques sur les nerfs 

 du gout. Archives de physiologic, Paris, 1869, tome ii., p. 20, et seq. 



4 BAZIRE, Case of Facial Paralysis, with Impairment of Taste and Acoustic 

 Hypercesthesia on the same side as the Paralysis. Quarterly Journal of Psycho- 

 logical Medicine, New York, 1868, vol. ii., p. 186. 



6 See vol. iv., Nervous System, p. 157, where we have given full details of 

 this case. 



6 SCHIFF, Lecons sur la physiologic de la digestion, Florence et Turin, 1867, 

 tome i., p. 103, et seq. 



7 LUSANNA, Sur les nerfs du gout. Archives de physiologic, Paris, 1871-'72, 

 tome iv., p. 151, et seq. 



