002 
THE GREAT SPINAL ORGANIC NERVE. 
comnmnicafion multiply, and they assume much of the form of 
a plexus. From the guttural plexus which it traverses, the 
pneumo-gastric sends branches to the carotid, the ganglions of 
the great sympathetic, the larynx, and a branch common to the 
pharynx and the larynx. In the thorax it furnishes branches 
to the tracheal and cardiac plexuses, and a long recurrent one 
which re-ascends to the larynx. Having arrived at the division 
of the bronchi, the principal trunk (according to this author) 
forms the bronchial plexus, and then divides itself into two 
branches which follow the oesophagus and constitute the oeso¬ 
phageal nerves. Within the abdomen these nerves exchange 
some communicating branches; they then ramify round the car¬ 
diac orifice of the stomach, and form a ganglioniform plexus 
there. After this intermingling of fibres, they give out a mul¬ 
titude of branches, among which should be particularly men¬ 
tioned those which are distributed on the membranes of the 
stomach, or which ramify in the pylorus, or go to the hepatic 
plexus, and, finally, the two or three small branches which are 
carried on to the cceliac plexus” (the semilunar ganglion). 
The pneumo-gastric nerve in the ox has the following pecu¬ 
liarities :— 
Before it escapes from the cranium, and opposite to the occi- 
pito-temporal foramen, it presents a ganglion of a somewhat flat¬ 
tened and variable formy-and of a grey colour, pharyngeal 
branch (which, as in the horse, sends a division to the larynx), 
and the superior laryngeal anastomose with certain branches of 
the tracheal recurrent. The anastomoses of this nerve with the 
superior laryngeal take place on the internal surface of the thyroid 
cartilagey and that which connects the pharyngo-laryngeal with 
the recurrent, ascends at the base of the larynx to a level with 
the flrst cartilaginous ring of the trachea. 
On arriving at the termination of the oesophagus, and in a 
direction towards the rumen, the inferior cesophagean nerve 
gives out a branch which, without touching the paunch, gains 
the inferior surface of the livery on which it rarniflesy and termi¬ 
nates in two branchesy one of ivhich is directed to the gall-bladdery 
and the other to the duodenal portion of the small intestinesy 
where it follows the ductus choledochus. 
Having arrived at the anterior part of the rumen, the pneumo- 
gastric nerve forms a vast ganglionic plexus, from which emanate 
four or Jive cojisiderable branches, which ramify over every part 
of the different stomachsy and some filaments of which are given 
to the semilunar ganglion and the great mesenteric. 
The recurrents pass between the lymphatic ganglions, which 
are situated at the entrance of the thoracic cavity. M. Girard 
