134 



PRA CTICAL ANA TO MY. 



some filaments from the carotid sympathetic plexus, called the great deep pctro- 

 sal nerve. The union of these two makes a compound nerve called the Vidian 

 nerve. This Vidian, accompanied by vessels of like name, passes through the 

 Vidian canal and joins the ganglion of Meckel, conferring on the same motion 

 and sympathetic qualities. You will recall the fact of osteology that the Vidian 

 canal is at a junctional area formed by the greater ala of the sphenoid bone, its 

 lingula and pterygoid process. Meckcl's ganglion derives its sensory root from 

 the spheno-palatine branches of the superior maxillary division of the fifth 

 cranial nerve. 



2. From the geniculate ganglion, the small superficial pctrosal nerve. This 

 nerve receives a communicating branch from the glosso-pharyngeal nerve and 

 leaves the cranium by the canalis innominatus in the sphenoid bone, between the 

 foramen ovale and foramen spinosum, and joins the otic ganglion on the inner 

 surface of the third division of the fifth nerve, near the foramen ovale. 



3. From the geniculate ganglion, the external pctrosal. This nerve joins the 



FIG. 90. SCHEME OF FACIAL NKRVE COMMUNICATING WITH THE FIFTH CRANIAL NERVE. 



sympathetic plexus on the great or middle meningeal artery, near the foramen 

 spinosum. 



4. From the nerve-trunk, below the geniculate ganglion, the tympanic branch 

 to the stapedius the smallest muscle in the body. This nerve pierces the pyra- 

 mid, on the inner surface of the tympanum. 



5. A branch from the carotid sympathetic plexus joins the great superficial 

 pctrosal just outside the cranium, to form the Vidian nerve. 



6. From the main trunk of the nerve (8 in Fig. 90) a branch is given off, just 

 above the stylo-mastoid foramen, to communicate with the auricular branch 

 of the vagus nerve. 



7. From the main nerve-trunk, just above the stylo-mastoid foramen, the cliorda 

 tympani nerve is given off. This nerve passes upward through a bony canal, the 

 iter chordae posterius, to the tympanum. It passes forward under the mucous 

 membrane of the drum of the ear internal to the manubrium of the malleus. The 

 nerve leaves the tympanum by the iter chorda; anterius, or canal of Huguier. 

 It communicates with the otic ganglion, passes internal to the external pterygoid 



