~ LE: 
1 4 
the side of the lower margin of the cartilaginous 
+ 
_ Septum, to which, as well as to its fellow on the 
* 
ri 
NOSE. 
Lateral view of the pinnal cartilages. 
nose, and the cartilages of the nostrils, be- 
cause they surround and in great measure de- 
termine the form of those apertures. The chief 
portion of each of them is nearly elliptical, 
and occupies the anterior part of the ala of the 
nose. Posteriorly, this portion either becomes 
suddenly narrower, and is continued in a long, 
undulating, and curved process through the 
middle part of the ala to the posterior and 
outer boundary of the nostril; or else it ab- 
ruptly ceases, and, in place of the process, 
there is a row of three or more small oval 
ttions of cartilage, (sesamoid cartilages, ) 
imbedded in the fibrous membrane which 
forms the rest of the basis of the ala, and 
connects all the moveable cartilages to one 
another. Anteriorly, this chief elliptical por- 
tion is also continued into a narrow process, 
which, after ap erat for a very short dis- 
tance forwards, turns round abruptly, and is 
directed backwards and a little downwards by 
“Oppusite side, it is pretty closely connected by 
fibro-cellular tissue. In this course, the carti- 
ii 
~ A] 
lage reaches a little beyond the anterior edge of 
_ the septum, so that, at the tip of most noses, 
_ there isin the middle line a small fossa bounded 
_ 0n each side by the lateral cartilages, and at the 
bottom of which is the anterior edge of the 
Septum. The inner portion of this cartilage 
extends along about two-thirds of the inner 
“boundary of the nostril, and terminates in an 
évenly rounded border; its lower Margin is 
always rather lower than that of the cartilagi- 
“hous septum, and assists in giving width and 
Support to the columna. Sometimes, but more 
rarely, this inner process of the inferior cartilage 
is, like the posterior and outer process, separate 
from the chief elliptical portion. 
_ The structure of the cartilages of the nose 
is essentially similar to that of the articular 
and other true cartilages, (cartilagines figu- 
rate, Meckauer.) Their cells are numerous, 
very close set and large; and next to each of 
their surfaces there are two or three layers of 
thin flattened cells, which give the borders of a 
Section through the thickness of the cartilage a 
somewhat fibrous aspect. But the basis-sub- 
Stance is, in reality, entirely destitute of fibres. 
The greater rigidity and firmness of the sep- 
tum-cartilage is due to its greater thickness ; 
its minute structure is similar to that of the 
cartilages of the ale. The latter are easily 
flexible, but the pliancy of the sides of the nose 
does not depend on them alone, but in as great 
a degree on the tough fibro-cellular membrane 
in which they are imbedded. The combination 
of the two tissues is indeed admirably adapted 
to the purposes which are to be served. The. 
27 
cartilages are sufficiently rigid to give the ale a 
definite form during rest; and they are so 
elastic that, when the nostrils have been either 
compressed or expanded, they are restored to 
their natural position by the recoil of the carti- 
lages, without any muscular effort. If the 
whole side of the nose had been formed of 
cartilage, much stronger muscles would have 
been needed for the several movements of the 
nostrils; but, by the intervention of small por- 
tions of fibro-cellular membrane, these move- 
ments, whether rapid or long-sustained, are ef- 
fected by some of the weakest muscles of\the 
‘body, and with a scarcely perceptible effort of 
the will. The arrangement is somewhat ana- 
logous to that in which strength and flexibility 
are combined by strong scales or plates being 
set on the pliant substance of the skin of va- 
rious animals. 
The muscles of the nose, like those of the rest 
of the face, are but ill-defined, and anatomists 
have differed much in both the description and 
the enumeration of them. The following ac- 
count is drawn from the results of several dis- 
sections purposely made, and compared with 
the descriptions of Santorini,* Arnold,t+ 
Theile,t and others, who have examined the 
matter for themselves. 
Fig. 403. 
Muscles of the nose. 
a, nasal bone; 6, nasal process of superior 
maxillary bone; c, pyramidalis nasi; 4, d, leva- 
tor labii superioris alzque nasi; e, e, triangularis ; 
J; depressor ale nasi; g, compressor narium minor; 
A, dilatator narium anterior; i, orbicularis oris; k,° 
depressor septi narium. 
* Observationes Anatomice, cap.i- __ ' 
¢t Icones Anatomice, Fasc. II. tab. viii. 
¢{ Soeramering, Vom Baue des Menschlichen 
Korpers, Bd. iii. 
