THE CRANIAL NERVES. 



DESCENDING BRANCHES. These are three in number the large, the small, and 

 the external palatine nerves, and are in great part continued directly from the 

 spheno-palatine branches of the superior maxillary. 



(a) The large or anterior palatine nerve descends in the palato-maxillary canal, 

 and divides in the roof of the mouth into branches which are received into grooves 

 in the hard palate, and extend forwards nearly to the incisor teeth. In the mouth 

 it supplies the inner side of the gum, the glands, and the mucous membrane of the 

 hard palate, and joins in front with the naso-palatine nerve. While in its canal, 

 the large palatine nerve gives off one or two inferior nasal branches, which supply ' 

 the mucous membrane over the greater part of the inferior turbinate bone, together 

 with the adjoining middle and inferior meatuses of the nose. 



(#) The small or posterior palatine nerve enters the lesser palatine canal, and 

 is conducted to the soft palate, the tonsil, and the uvula. It has been thought 

 to convey motor fibres from the facial nerve to the levator palati and azygos uvulas 

 muscles. 



(c) The external palatine nerve, the smallest of the series, courses through the 

 external palatine canal between the maxilla and the tuberosity of the palate bone, 



Fig. 160. XERVES OF THE NOSE 



AND THE SPHEXO-PALATIXE 

 GANGLION FROM THE INNER 



SIDE. (From Sappey, after 

 Hirschfeld and Leveille. ) 3 



1, network of the external 

 branches of the olfactory nerve : 

 the area of distribution is repre- 

 sented somewhat too large ; 2, 

 nasal nerve, giving its external 

 branch to the outer wall of the 

 nose ; the septal branch is cut 

 short ; 3, spheno-palatine ganglion ; 

 4. ramification of the large pala- 

 tine nerve ; 5, small, and 6, ex- 

 ternal palatine nerve : 7, inferior 

 nasal branch ; 8, superior nasal 

 branch ; 9, naso-palatine nerve 

 cut short ; 10, Vidian nerve ; 11. 

 great superficial petrosal nerve ; 

 12, great deep petrosal nerve ; 13, 

 the sympathetic nerves ascending 

 on the internal carotid artery. 



to be distributed to the tonsil and the outer part of the soft palate. This nerve is 

 occasionally wanting. 



INTERNAL BRANCHES. These consist of the naso-palatine, and the upper nasal 

 branches, which ramify in the lining membrane of the nasal fossae and adjoining 

 sinuses. 



The upper nasal are very small branches, and enter the back part of the nasal 

 fossa by the spheno-palatine foramen. Some are prolonged to the upper and pos- 

 terior part of the septum, and the remainder ramify in the membrane covering the 

 upper two spongy bones, and in that lining the posterior ethmoidal cells. 



The naso-palatine nerve (fig. 144, 3), long and slender, leaves the inner side of 

 the ganglion with the preceding branches, and after crossing the roof of the nasal 

 fossa is directed downwards and forwards, in a slight groove on the vomer, towards 

 the anterior palatine canal. The nerves of opposite sides descend to the palate 

 through the median subdivisions of the canal, called the foramina of Scarpa, the 

 nerve of the right side usually behind that of the left (see Osteology, p. 53). In 

 the lower common foramen the two naso-palatine nerves are connected with each 

 other in a fine plexus ; and they end in several filaments, which are distributed to 





