THE LARYNX. 133 



it reaches the thyreo-arytenoid ligaments, it is tucked in be- 

 tween the upper and the lower one, so as to form, on either 

 side, an oblong pouch, the bottom of which is broader than its 

 orifice between the ligaments. This pouch is the ventricle/of 

 Galen, or of Morgagni, or of the larynx ; it projects into the 

 fatty glandular matter on the posterior face of the thyroid car- 

 tilage, and has its base resting on the thyreo-arytenoid muscle. 

 Its superior end reaches almost as high as the upper margin of 

 the thyroid cartilage, and it has some small fasciculi of muscular 

 fibres on its belly which seem appropriated to its qse. The 

 continuation of the membrane afterwards lines smoothly the 

 cricoid cartilage, and abounds there in mucous follicles. 



That portion of the larynx which is formed by the thyreo- 

 arytenoid ligaments, and the pouches between them, is the 

 structure essential to the formation of voice. The opening be- 

 tween the two lower ligaments is the Rima Glottidis, and the 

 space between the upper ligaments and the duplicature of the 

 mucous membrane passing from the arytenoids to the epiglottis 

 cartilage, may be termed the Glottis. 



The Epiglottis Cartilage is principally useful in preventing 

 articles of food from falling into the glottis, either in swallow- 

 ing or in vomiting. The strength of its muscles, however, does 

 not seem to be sufficient to draw it down over the glottis, as 

 many physiologists suppose; on the contrary, I am induced to 

 believe that the glottis is rather drawn upwards to it. If, on 

 any occasion, it be depressed or bent down over the glottis, the 

 position must be caused by mechanical pressure from the bulk 

 of the article swallowed. But the latter explanation is not suf- 

 ficient to account for the swallowing of fluids, or of a very small 

 body as a pill or a crumb of bread. 



Impressed with these objections, and unsatisfied with the 

 common theory, I had an opportunity, in a dissection a few 

 years ago, of witnessing a position of these parts which afforded 

 a satisfactory explanation. The subject was a robust, muscular 

 man, who had died suddenly. The upper orifice of the glottis 

 was closed and protected, but by an arrangement precisely the 

 reverse of the received opinion ; for the epiglottis, retaining its 

 naturally erect position, with a slight inclination backwards, had 

 the opening of the glottis drawn up so as to come in contact 

 with its posterior face. The cricoid cartilage, as has been men- 



VOL. II. 13 



