396 



EIGHTH PAIR OF NERVES. 



sections 

 perceive 



Fig. 130* g ea i plexus is distributed to the muscles 



and mucous membrane of the pharynx. 



The Superior laryngeal nerve arises 

 from the inferior ganglion of the pneumo- 

 gastric, of which it appears to be almost a 

 continuation ; hence the ganglion has been 

 named by Sir Astley Cooper, the "ganglion 

 of the superior laryngeal branch" The 

 nerve descends behind the internal carotid 

 artery to the opening in the thyro-hyoidean 

 membrane, through which it passes with 

 the superior laryngeal artery, and is dis- 

 tributed to the mucous membrane of the 

 "larynx, communicating on the arytenoid 

 muscle, and behind the cricoid cartilage, 

 with the recurrent laryngeal nerve. Be- 

 hind the internal carotid it gives off the 

 external laryngeal branch, which sends a 

 branch to the pharyngeal plexus, and then 

 descends to supply the inferior constrictor 

 and crico-thyroid muscles and thyroid 

 gland, and communicates by two or three 

 branches with the recurrent laryngeal and 

 sympathetic nerve. 



Mr. John Hilton, demonstrator of ana- 

 tomy in Guy's Hospital, who has made 

 some able dissections of the nerves of the 

 larynx, of which we refer the student to a 

 masterly description in the 2d vol. of the 

 Guy's Hospital Reports, concludes that the 

 superior laryngeal nerve is the nerve of 

 sensation to the larynx, being distributed 

 solely (with the exception of its external 

 laryngeal branch) to the mucous mem- 

 brane, cellular tissue, and glands. If this 

 fact be taken in connexion with the obser- 

 vations of Sir Astley Cooper, and the dis- 

 of the origin of the nerve by Mr. Edward Cock, we shall 

 that, both in the ganglionic origin of the nerve and in its 



* Origin and distribution of the eighth pair of nerves. 1. 3, 4. The medulla oblon- 

 gata. 1. Is the corpus pyramidale of one side. 3. The corpus olivare. 4. The corpus 

 restiforme. 2. The pons Varolii. 5. The facial nerve. 6. The origin of the glosso- 

 pharyngeal nerve. 7. The ganglion of Andersch. 8. The trunk of the nerve. 9. The 

 spinal accessory nerve. 10. The ganglion of the pneumogastric nerve. 11. Its plexi- 

 form ganglion. 12. Its trunk. 13. Its pharyngeal branch forming the pharyngeal 

 plexus (14), assisted by a branch from the glosso-pharyngeal (8), and one from the 

 superior laryngeal nerve (15). 16. Cardiac branches. 17. Recurrent laryngeal 

 branch. 18. Anterior pulmonary branches. 19. Posterior pulmonary branches. 20. 

 CEsophageal plexus. 21. Gastric branches. 22. Origin of the spinal accessory nerve. 

 23. Its branches distributed to the sterno-mastoid muscle. 24. Its branches to the 

 trapezius muscle. 







