CiACCiOj on the Nerves of the Cornea. 
81 
Undoubtedly this is the general rule,, nevertheless, I have 
observed, although very rarely, in the cornea of the frog and 
sparrow, some large branches dividing into three or four 
smaller ones. There are, however, in the mode of branching 
of these nerves some points worthy of special note, which I 
shall presently allude to. 
Not all the nerve-trunks of the cornea begin to divide at 
the same distance from its border. Some of them divide as 
soon as they enter, while others do so after running for 
some distance through its fibrous tissue. I have sometimes 
seen two distinct trunks in the sclerotica converging more 
and more as they approach towards the border of the cornea ; 
but as soon as they arrive there they unite into a single trunk, 
which enters the cornea and divides in the same manner 
as the others. At other times I have observed a large trunk 
running through the sclerotica like a single trunk ; but as 
soon as it reaches the margin of the cornea, it divides into 
branches, which, as two distinct trunks, penetrate into the 
cornea, and pass in different directions. 
The division and subdivision of these trunks is generally 
effected at angles more or less acute. It is seldom that we 
observe a trunk or branch dividing at right angles. The 
distance from one to the other division varies greatly. In 
some cases, while from the first to the second division of a 
trunk there is a great distance, from the second to the third 
there is very little. As the nerves, however, approach their 
ultimate distribution, the distance among the divisions be- 
comes less and Jess. All the branches resulting from these 
divisions are not of the same size. It sometimes happens 
that we observe two nerve-trunks of various sizes entering 
the cornea one close to the other, and while one divides into 
two branches, the other, without dividing, unites with the 
smaller branch, and the compound trunk thus formed runs 
on. It is also not unfrequently observed that, from a trunk 
before its regular division, a bundle of fibres separates at a 
very acute angle^ which, after a more or less circuitous course, 
unites with one of the other branches of the same trunk, or 
with that from another trunk. 
The nuclei in connection with the nerves of the cornea. 
Dr. Beale, from his numerous investigations upon the 
peripheric distribution of nerves, has been led to the conclu- 
sion that, in connection with all nerve-fibres, there are little 
oval bodies, or nuclei, which form an integral part of each 
separate fibre, and increase in number as the nerves approach 
