336 SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



even into the compact substance of the diaphyses, in compauy 

 with the minute arteries by which it is penetrated. There 

 can be no doubt that these filaments are distributed in the 

 compact substance, although I have never succeeded in 

 finding them -within it. The smaller cylindrical bones of the 

 hand and foot present the same conditions with respect to 

 their nerves as the larger ones, except that in them, on 

 account of the undeveloped condition of the medullary cavities, 

 the numerous nerves are not so regularly divided into 

 apophysal and diaphysal. 



Of the short bones, I have found the vertebra to be the most 

 abundantly supplied with nerves, and especially their bodies. 

 The nerves enter posteriorly in company with the arteries and 

 veins (vena basi-vertebrales) , as well as anteriorly and on the 

 sides, together with the vessels, and are distributed in the 

 marrow of the spongy substance. In the astragalus also, 

 calcaneum, os naviculare, cuboideum, and cuneiforme internum, 

 I have noticed, in the larger, several, and in the smaller, at least 

 one nervous filament. 



In the scapula and os innominatum, the nerves are very 

 numerous, entering these bones chiefly at the points before 

 indicated, with the larger vessels, sometimes on the expanded 

 portion, sometimes in the neighbourhood of the articular 

 cavities. In the sternum also, and in the flat cranial bones, 

 the existence of nerves is demonstrated without difficulty. In 

 the latter, I have observed, even in the new-born infant, in the 

 occipital and parietal bones, nerves entering through the 

 foramina emissaria, which at this period also contain an 

 artery ; and in the adult, there are found in the parietal, 

 frontal, and occipital bones, although rarely, yet occasionally, 

 microscopic filaments on the smaller arteries, which enter the 

 compact substance from without, and probably penetrate as far 

 as the diploe. 



From these observations, together with those of Kobelt, Beck, 

 Engel, Luschka, &c, there can be no doubt that the bones are 

 richly supplied with nerves. With respect to the origin of 

 these nerves, they have already been traced by previous observers 

 to the cerebral and spinal nerves, as for instance the nerves 

 of the diaphyses of the femur, tibia, and humerus, to the 

 nn. cruralis, tibialis, ischiaticus, and perforans Casseri, as well 



