428 SUB-MAXILLARY GANGLION. 



palatine ganglion, through the pterygoid or Vidian canal, to the 

 foramen lacerum basis cranii, where it divides into two branches, 

 the carotid and petrosal* The carotid branch enters the carotid 

 canal, and joins the carotid plexus. The petrosal branch enters the 

 cranium through the foramen lacerum basis cranii, and passes 

 backwards beneath the Casserian ganglion, and beneath the dura 

 mater-,- lying in a groove upon the anterior surface of the petrous 

 bone, to the hiatus Fallopii. Entering the hiatus Fallopii it imme- 

 diately joins the facial nerve, just as that cord is making its angular 

 bend, previously to winding back along the inner wall of the tyrnpa- 

 'num.f The petrosal branch accompanies the facial nerve, along 

 the aquseductus Fallopii, enclosed in its sheath to within a few lines 

 of the stylo-mastoid foramen. It then quits the facial nerve, return- 

 ing upon itself at an acute angle, and enters the tympanum near the 

 base of the pyramid. It now takes the name of chorda tympani and 

 crosses the tympanum enveloped in mucous membrane, between the 

 handle of the malleus and long process of the incus to the fissura 

 Glaseri; passing through a particular opening in this fissure it 

 descends upon the inner side of the condyle of the lower jaw, and 

 internally to the auricular and inferior dental nerves to the gusta- 

 tory nerve, which it joins at an acute angle.J Accompanying the 

 gustatory, enclosed in its sheath, to the submaxillary gland, it quits 

 that nerve and communicates with the submaxillary ganglion. 



The petrosal branch of the Vidian nerve receives a branch from 

 the tympanic nerve while in the hiatus Fallopii. 



The Vidian nerve thus becomes the medium of communication 

 between the spheno-palatine ganglion and submaxillary ganglion ; 

 and between both of these ganglia and the carotid plexus ; and 

 through the tympanic nerve with the glosso-pharyngeal and pneu- 

 mogastric nerves : and if the fusion of nervous substance be admitted, 

 between the whole of .these and the facial, the auditory, and the 

 gustatory nerves. 



5. The SUBMAXILLARY GANGLION is of small size, but very distinct, 

 and is situated in the submaxillary gland. 



Its branches of distribution are numerous, and ramify upon the 

 ducts of the gland, and upon Wharton's duct. 



Its branches of communication are, 1, one or two small branches 

 which join the gustatory nerve; and 2, several minute branches 



* Or the deep and superficial petrous. G. 



t Here two rival opinions clash ; one set of anatomists, and with them Swan and 

 Arnold, believe that the petrosal branch unites with the substance of the facial nerve ; 

 the two latter writers even go so far as to describe a ganglionic enlargement upon the 

 facial nerve at this point, and Arnold would seem to intimate that the nerve is actually 

 a branch of this ganglion; while another set maintain that the petrosal branch merely 

 accompanies the facial nerve, being enclosed in its neurilemma. As the question is 

 yet litigated, and as I am prepared with no positive proof to decide for either party, I 

 shall at present adopt the latter view as the more convenient for description, and for 

 explaining the connexions between the different cranial ganglia. The latter opinion 

 has for its supporters, Cloquet, Ribes, and Hirzel. 



\ Here, again, the question effusion of nervous substance, or mere contact, has been 

 warmly agitated, but with no positive and unquestionable results. 



