530 GREAT SYMPATHETIC OR INTERCOSTAL NERVE. 



supply, with but very few exceptions, solely from the great 

 sympathetic system. 



It is not now considered proper to apply the term origin, to 

 the anastomosis which the sympathetic forms with the fifth 

 and sixth nerves in the carotid canal, an anastomosis which 

 has nothing in it different from the other junctions of this sys- 

 tem with the cerebro-spinal nerves. Later researches have 

 proved likewise that the sympathetic ascends much higher in 

 the head, where is found in fact six sympathetic ganglia, each 

 one forming a little centre from which branches proceed in 

 various directions, especially about the blood-vessels. These 

 are all connected more or less directly with each other, with 

 the cerebral nerves, and with the superior cervical ganglion of 

 the sympathetic below, to the ascending nerves of which they 

 seem to be superadded. 



Of these sympathetic ganglia, we have 1st. As the upper- 

 most, the ganglion of Ribes,* situated in the cavity of the 

 cranium on the anterior communicating artery of the brain. 

 2d. The ciliary or lenticular ganglion, placed on the outer side 

 of the optic nerve just after its entry into the orbit. 3d. The 

 naso-palatine ganglion, or ganglion of Cloquet, placed in 

 the foramen incisivum of the upper maxillary bone. 4. The 

 spheno-palatine ganglion, or the ganglion of MecJcel, located 

 in the spheno-maxillary fissure. 5. The sub-maxillary ganglion, 

 situated on the outer side of the capsule of the sub-maxillary 

 salivary gland ; and 6th, The auditory ganglion, or ganglion 

 of Arnold, found just at the lower margin of the foramen 

 ovale of the sphenoid bone, and which has been described at 

 page 476. To these might be added a ganglion that is occa- 

 sionally found at the upper opening of the carotid canal on the 

 surface of the carotid artery, which has been named the carotid 

 ganglion, or the ganglion of Laumonier, from the anatomist 

 who first described it.f But in the far greater number of cases, 

 in which I have looked for this ganglion, it consisted of a but 

 slight elongated expansion of one of the nerves, which assist 



* So named from the anatomist who discovered it. 



f As it is found when present at the top of the carotid canal and by the side 

 of the cavernous sinus, it has also received the name of cavernous ganglion. 



