396 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



the nasal bone, and winding over the lower edge of the latter, 

 or passing through a foramen in it, is lost upon the integuments 

 of the corresponding part of the nose. Other filaments from 

 the external fasciculus descend upon the mucous membrane, 

 along the external anterior part of the nose, or that which cor- 

 responds with the nasal process of the upper maxilla, and ter- 

 minate near the anterior extremity of the inferior spongy bonei 

 they are three or four in number. The internal nasal nerve is 

 also said to send one or more filaments to the frontal sinus, 

 but they are so fine that doubts of their existence are enter- 

 tained by Bichat, though they are admitted by J. F. Meckel. 



The Spheno-Paiatine Ganglion, a part of the second branch 

 of the Trigeminus, detaches to the nose, through the spheno- 

 palatine foramen, several filaments. One of these, discovered 

 by Cotunriius, and admirably delineated by Scarpa and by 

 John Hunter, called the Naso-Palatinus, runs across the front 

 of the sphenoidal sinus to the upper posterior part of the septum 

 narium, beneath the mucous membrane. It then descends ob- 

 liquely along the septum to the foramen incisivum, and passes 

 through it to the roof of the mouth. In many cases, however, 

 a distinct foramen is formed in the middle palate suture for it, 

 anterior to the foramen incisivum. The nerve of the left side 

 is anterior to that on the right. When the two reach the roof 

 of the mouth, or are near it, they unite to form a little swelling 

 called the naso-palatine ganglion,* from which several fila- 

 ments arise, and are spent upon the membranous caruncle 

 at this point, and upon the contiguous part of the palatine 

 membrane. 



The spheno-palatine ganglion sends several filaments to the 

 mucous membrane of the upper spongy bone and of the upper 

 meatus, and to that of. the posterior end of the middle spongy 

 bone. The palatine nerve, one of its largest branches, in de- 

 scending along the posterior palatine canal to the soft palate 

 of the mouth, also contributes to the supply of nerves to the nose. 

 Shortly after it has arisen from the ganglion, it sends one or 

 more filaments to the middle spongy bone, and to the superior 

 part of the lower spongy bone, and when it has got, in its de~ 



* J. Cloquet, Anat. 



