io8 The Palate 



for the soft palate, and attached to the posterior border of the hard, is 

 a strong aponeurosis which blends with the expanded tendon of the 

 tensor palati. 



The chief of the muscles of the soft palate is the palato-pharyn- 

 geus, which there consists of two layers, between which are the levator 

 palati and the azygos uvulae. Passing downwards and backwards in 

 the posterior pillar of the fauces, it spreads out into the side of the 

 pharynx and along the posterior border of the thyroid cartilage. As 

 it descends from the outer border of the soft palate it is reinforced by 

 fibres arising from the lower part of the Eustachian tube ; these fibres 

 constitute the salpingo-pharyngeus (o-aA7riy, trumpet], and, acting 

 from below, they open the tube during deglutition (p. 99). 



The palato-glossus blends above with its fellow of the opposite 

 side on the under surface of the soft palate, and, passing down in the 

 anterior pillar of the fauces, is inserted in the side of the tongue. 



The azygos uvul<z arises from the posterior nasal spine and de- 

 scends into the uvula. 



The levator palati arises from the under surface of the petrous 

 bone and from the lower border of the Eustachian tube, and, entering 

 the pharynx above the upper border of the superior constrictor, is 

 inserted between the slips of the palato-pharyngeus. 



The tensor palati arises from the scaphoid fossa at the root of the 

 internal pterygoid plate, and from the Eustachian tube ; descending on 

 the outer side of the inner plate, it ends on a tendon which is reflected 

 round the hamular process to be inserted partly into the ridge on the 

 under surface of the palate bone, and partly into the buccal aspect of the 

 soft palate. The reason for part of it being inserted into the hard palate 

 is that those fibres may be able to pull upon and open the Eustachian 

 tube during deglutition. This, indeed, may, after all, be the chief use 

 of the tensor palati. 



Nerves. The tensor is supplied by a branch from the otic ganglion. 

 The facial, through the Vidian and Meckel's ganglion, supplies the 

 levator and the azygos ; and the pharyngeal plexus probably supplies 

 the palato-glossus and palato-pharyngeus. 



Supply. The vessels of the soft palate are derived from the pos- 

 terior palatine of the internal maxillary, the ascending palatine of the 

 facial, and the ascending pharyngeal. The veins correspond. The 

 lymphatics pass to the glands near the angle of the jaw. The nerves 

 come from Meckel's ganglion and the glosso-pharyngeal. 



Cleft-palate is the result of a want of union between the lateral 

 halves of the soft and perhaps of the hard palate also ; it generally 

 passes back through the tip of the uvula. At the front of the palate the 

 cleft leaves the middle line to pass through the articulation of the inter- 

 maxillary with the rest of the upper jaw (p. 17), and then, probably, to 

 finish off with a hare-lip (p. 105). When, as often happens, the median 

 cleft diverges on either side of the inter-maxillary bones, the incisor 



