APPENDIX. 577 



No. III. 



OX A NON-STRIPED MUSCLE CONNECTED WITH THE 

 ORBITAL PERIOSTEUM OF MAN AND MAMMALS. 



BY WM. TURNER, M.B. (Loxo.), F.R.S.E., PROFESSOR OF ASATOMY, 

 UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. 



(Natural History Review, January, 1862.) 



WHILST engaged in making a dissection, in the human subject, during 

 the winter session of last year, of the superior maxillary, or second 

 division of the fifth cranial nerve, my attention was attracted to a pale- 

 reddish, soft mass, filling up the narrow chink of the spheno-maxillary 

 fissure, and extending, from the sphenoidal fissure in the sphenoid bone 

 to the infra-orbital canal in the superior maxillary bone. It was 

 evidently connected to the superior (ocular) aspect of the periosteum 

 of the orbit, and it was pierced by the orbital branch of the superior 

 maxillary nerve, from which, as well as from the ascending branches of 

 the spheno-palatine ganglion, it appeared to receive its supply of nerves. 

 It completely shut off the superior maxillary nerve, with its infra-orbital 

 continuation, from the cavity of the orbit. 



Since the period of making the above observation, I have availed 

 myself of several opportunities of examining the same region in other 

 subjects, and have constantly observed appearances of a nature similar 

 to those just described. The amount of the reddish mass, and the depth 

 of its tint, varied slightly in different instances. Frequently, it was so 

 pale as scarcely to attract attention, which may perhaps be the reason 

 why it has so long been neglected by anatomists. When carefully 

 examined with the naked eye, or, still better, with a single lens, it was 

 seen to exhibit a fibrous appearance. A small portion snipped off with 

 scissors, teazed out with needles, and placed on the stage of the micro- 

 scope, under a quarter-inch objective, was observed to be composed of 

 pale, flattened, band-like fibres, having a faintly granular aspect, and 

 presenting indications of elongated nuclei at intervals. From these 

 characters I had little doubt that the structure in question consisted of 

 the non-striped form of muscular fibre. 



As considerable difficulty is always experienced in obtaining for 

 examination the contents of the human orbit, in a perfectly fresh con- 

 dition, I, in the next instance, proceeded to dissect the orbits of some 

 of the more readily obtained mammals, with a view of ascertaining if a 



2 P 



