THE NECK, ANTERIOR. 117 



portant organs are crowded together can be indicated in only the most general 

 terms, and that he must rely upon his own judgment, guided by his previous 

 study of the text-book, plates, and the directions given. 



The Inferior Maxillary Nerve. Figs, n, 12. 



This is the third or lowest branch of the fifth cranial- 

 nerve. It issues from the skull through the foramen ovale, 



It is composed of the entire motor portion of the fifth 

 and a part of the sensory fibres, which unite, after travers- 

 ing the foramen ovale, to form a single trunk that at once 

 divides into a smaller anterior and a larger posterior 

 division. The anterior branch is mostly motor, and the 

 posterior sensory. 



From the trunk before its division a filament, the recur- 

 rent nerve, passes into the skull through the foramen 

 spinosum with the middle meningeal artery ; and a muscu- 

 lar branch to the internal pterygoid, which enters the 

 deep surface of the muscle. 



Branches of the Anterior Division. 



(i) The deep temporal nerves. Usually two in number, 

 anterior and posterior, enter the deep surface of the tem- 

 poral muscle. (2) The masseteric. Passes through the 

 sigmoid notch with the masseteric branch of the internal 

 maxillary artery and terminates in the masseter muscle. 

 (3) The external pterygoid nerve to that muscle. (4) 

 The buccal nerve comes forward between the two heads 

 of the external pterygoid muscle, appears in the face issu- 

 ing from under the anterior border of the ramus of the 

 jaw and lying upon the buccinator muscle. The nerve 

 is distributed to the skin and mucous membrane of the 

 cheek. 



Branches of the Posterior Division. 



(1) The auriculo-temporal nerve. See page 26. 



(2) The inferior dental nerve. This is the largest branch 



