MR. BELL ON THE NERVES OF THE FACE. 
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therefore required that another nerve besides the fifth, should be sent to the 
face. Having shown also that the roots of the fifth nerve were distant from 
that column of nervous matter which gives origin to the nerves of the respira- 
tory system, and that it could not therefore minister to the motions of the face 
which are connected with respiration ; and that another nerve, the portio 
dura, having its root in common with the nerves of respiration, took its course 
to the face, — the subject was prepared for experiment. 
By experiments on the nerves of the face these three things were proved : 
First, that the sensibility of the head and face depended on the fifth pair of 
nerves. Secondly, that the muscular branches of the fifth were for mastication : 
and in the Third place, it was proved that the portio dura of the seventh, or 
respiratory nerve of the face, controuled the motions of the features, performing 
all those motions, voluntary or involuntary, which are necessarily connected 
with respiration ; — such as breathing, sucking, swallowing, and speaking, with 
all the varieties of expression. 
Reserving the details, I shall now state shortly the occurrences which I have 
witnessed since the publication of that paper; as they afford convincing proofs 
of the correctness of these opinions. 
The first instance was in a man shot with a pistol ball, which entered the 
ear and tore across the portio dura at its root. All motion on the same side 
of the face from that time ceased ; but he continued in possession of the sensi- 
bility of the integuments of that side of the face. 
The next instance was in a man wounded by the horn of an ox. The point 
of the horn entered under the angle of the jaw and came out before the ear, 
tearing across the portio dura. He remains now a singular proof of the effects 
of the loss of function in the muscles of the face by this nerve being divided. 
The forehead of the corresponding side is without motion, the eyelids remain 
open, the nostril has no motion in breathing, and the mouth is drawn to the 
opposite side. The muscles of the face by long disuse are degenerated, and 
the integuments of the wounded side of the face are become like a membrane 
stretched over the skull. They have lost their firmness, and the flesh under 
them is wasted, with the exception of certain muscles, the reason of which will 
be understood on perusing the anatomical description in the present paper. 
In this man the sensibility of the face is perfect. The same nerve (portio dura) 
