Report on the progress of human anatomy and physiology in the year 1843-4 / [Sir James Paget].

  • James Paget
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the progress of human anatomy and physiology in the year 1843-4 / [Sir James Paget]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    58 a motor nerve of the sterno-mastoid and trapezius muscles ; and it is very proba¬ ble that it gives, by its internal branch and other communications, motor‘fibres to the pneumo-gastric, from which they are subsequently distributed to some or all of the muscles of the larynx,* * * § and pharynx; and, in some animals, to muscles of the palate. It is evident that the chief difficulty is in distinguishing the functions of those roofs which may be either the uppermost roots of the accessory, or the lowest of the pneumo gastric. In the last Report an observation by Mr. Spence of a root vvhich he considered to be the motor root of the pneumo-gastric was mentioned. That root had its origin midway between the pneumo-gastric and the accessory roots; and both Krause and Hein agree that it is not unfrequent to find that several of the upper roots of the accessory (as they are usually described,) are united to and interchange filaments at the jugular ganglion of the pneumo-gastric. In a piepaiation which I lately made, several of these minute roots are commingled with roots of the pneumo-gastric, even before the ganglion is formed on it. It is therefore difficult to say whether these are roots of the pneumo-gastric or of the accessory ; and the more difficult, because the upper roots of the accessory arise more and more nearly from the posterior columns of the medulla oblongata; and, moreover, whatever these roots may be, such communications as I have ob¬ served might effect an exchange of filaments between the two nerves before their trunks are formed. It is probable, also, that there are differences in these points in different species, and in different individuals of each; so that before we can hope to distinguish precisely the physiological properties of these two nerves, we must learn to distinguish them (if indeed they are two nerves,) anatomically.] Inferior laryngeal nerve. Mr. Jacksonf has recorded a case of aneurism of the distal two thirds of the arch of the aorta, in which the left inferior laryngeal nerve was involved, and a firm manly voice was changed to a squeaking whisper. Severe paroxysms of dyspnoea ensued on exertion, and sometimes during swallow¬ ing—signs referable to paralysis of all the muscles of the left side of the larynx, except the crico-thyroidei and thyro-hyoidei, by the unopposed action of which the vocal ligament was kept unnaturally tense, while in violent inspiration the arytenoid cartilage was not hindered from being, as in Dr. J. Reid’s experiments forced down like a valve over the glottis. Professor Barkow]; (Breslau) describes a small ganglion, scarcely aline in diameter, on that terminal branch of the inferior laryngeal nerve, which after as¬ cending over the posterior surface of the cricoid cartilage lies upon or among the fibres of the posterior arytenoid muscle. He calls it the arytenoid ganglion ulnar nerve. Dr. Poletli§ finds that another branch of the deep palmar branch of the ulnar nerve, constantly exists in addition to those described by former anatomists. It is as large as the filaments given to the lumbricales muscles, and arises from the concavity of the arch which the nerve forms, opposite the lower margin of the os unciforme, or a little further on. After giving off a few secondary branches, when it is opposite the articulation, between the os unciforme and os magnum, it passes through the interosseous ligament, and goes to be distributed in the5syno¬ vial membrane of the metacarpal joints. ORGANS OF THE SPECIAL SENSES. Dj/e. M. Maunoir,|j of Geneva, to support the view which he has so long main¬ tained of the existence of the sphincter muscle around the pupil, and the radiated muscle in the rest of the iris, states that galvanism excites contraction of both * The arrangement of its internal branch in the chimpanz^, discovered by W. Vrolik, (see last Re¬ port,) is very important evidence for this view; and Bernard’s experiments are not less so, for in them he could not destroy much more than the roots of the accessory, though he may sometimes have left some of them uninjured, t Medical Gazette, Dec. 22, 1843. t Import from the Academic des Sciences, Stance du 26 Aoftt, in the Gaz. Medicate, 31 Aout 1844. § II fihatre Sebezio, Dec. 1843. It is probably the same which Valentin describes as “ filaments to the articulation.” (Soemmering’s Anatomic, Fr. edit. vol. iv, p. 517.) |1 Report from the Academic des Sciences, 19 Fevr. 1844; in the Gazette Medicale, 24 Fevr.