THE CRANIAL NERVES 291 



trunk. The accessory part of the eleventh passes through 

 this ganglion, and below unites with the vagus trunk to pass 

 chiefly into its pharyngeal and superior laryngeal branches. 

 The pneumogastric passes down the neck behind and. be- 

 tween the internal jugular* vein and the internal and com- 

 mon carotid arteries, and sends motor and sensory fibers to 

 the organs of voice and respiration, and motor fibers to the 

 pharynx, esophagus, stomach and heart. 



The branches of the pneumogastric are numerous, (i) 

 In the jugular fossa it gives off (a) a meningeal branch to 

 the dura mater of the posterior fossa of the skull; (b) an 

 auricular branch which, traversing the substance of the tem- 

 poral bone, emerges by the auricular fissure to supply the in- 

 tegument of the back part of the pinna and external auditory 

 meatus. (2) In the neck it gives off (a) a pharyngeal 

 branch, which consists mainly of fibers from the accessory 

 portion of the eleventh and is the chief motor nerve of the 

 pharynx and soft palate; (b) a superior laryngeal branch, 

 which also consists mainly of fibers from the accessory part 

 of the eleventh and is the chief sensory nerve of the larynx ; 

 it also animates the crico-thyroid muscle; (c) a recurrent 

 laryngeal branch, which, on the right side, winds round the 

 subclavian artery and, on the left, round the aorta to re- 

 turn to the muscles of the larynx whose motor nerve it is ; 

 (d) cervical cardiac branches, which communicate with the 

 cardiac branches of the sympathetic and pass to the deep 

 cardiac plexus. (3) In the thorax it gives off (a) thoracic 

 cardiac branches, which pass to the deep cardiac plexus ; (b) 

 anterior pulmonary branches, which go to the roots of the 

 lungs in front; (c) posterior pulmonary branches, which go 

 to the roots of the lungs behind and send some filaments to 

 the pericardium; filaments from (b) and (c) follow the air 

 passages through the lungs; (d) esophageal branches, which 

 unite with fibers from the opposite nerve to form the esopha- 

 geal plexus. (4) In the abdomen are the gastric branches; 

 those from the left nerve are distributed to the anterior 



