FACIAL, OR NERVE OF EXPRESSION 511 



action through the glosso-pharyngeal and the facial, there can be little 

 doubt that the muscles of the palate and uvula receive filaments 

 of distribution from the seventh nerve. The effects of paralysis of 

 these muscles are manifested by more or less trouble in deglutition and 

 in the pronunciation of certain words, with difficulty in the expulsion 

 of mucus collected in the back part of the mouth and the pharynx. 



Uses of the External Branches of the Facial. The general action of 

 the branches of the facial going to the superficial muscles of the face is 

 sufficiently evident, in view of what is known of the distribution of 

 these branches and the general properties of the nerve. It is now 

 recognized as the nerve that presides over the movements of the super- 

 ficial muscles of the face, not including those directly concerned in the 

 act of mastication. This being its general action, it is easy to assign to 

 each of the external branches its particular office. 



Just after the facial has passed out at the stylo-mastoid foramen, it 

 sends to the glosso-pharyngeal the communicating branch, the action of 

 which has just been mentioned in connection with the movements of the 

 palate. 



The posterior auricular branch, becoming partly sensory by the 

 accession of filaments from the cervical plexus, gives sensibility to the 

 integument on the back part of the ear and over the occipital portion 

 of the occipito-frontalis muscle. It animates the retrahens and the 

 attollens aurem, muscles that are little developed in man but are im- 

 portant in certain of the inferior animals. It also animates the posterior 

 portion of the occipito-frontalis. 



The branches distributed to the posterior belly of the digastric and 

 to the stylo-hyoid muscle simply animate these muscles, one of the 

 uses of which is to assist in deglutition. The same may be said of 

 filaments that go the stylo-glossus. 



The two great branches distributed upon the face, after the trunk of 

 the nerve has passed through the parotid gland, have the most prominent 

 action. Both these branches are slightly sensory, from their connections 

 with other nerves, and are distributed in small part to integument. 



The temporo-facial branch animates all the muscles of the upper 

 part of the face. In complete paralysis of this branch, the eye is con- 

 stantly open, even during sleep, on account of paralysis of the orbicu- 

 laris muscle. In cases of long standing, the globe of the eye may 

 become inflamed from constant exposure, from abolition of the move- 

 ments of winking by which the tears are distributed over its surface 

 and little foreign particles are removed, and, in short, from absence of 

 the protective action of the lids. In these cases the lower lid may 

 become slightly everted. The frontal portion of the occipito-frontalis, 



