Observations on the ganglionic enlargement of the pneumo-gastric nerve; the probable function of that ganglion; and the position which it occupies in the human subject and in several of the lower animals / [Edward Cock].

  • Cock, Edward, 1805-1892.
Date:
1837]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the ganglionic enlargement of the pneumo-gastric nerve; the probable function of that ganglion; and the position which it occupies in the human subject and in several of the lower animals / [Edward Cock]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    gastric is supposed to derive from the olivary bodies, com¬ prising, no doubt, the greater portion of the nerve, and constituting its specific character, it likewise possesses every facility of position for deriving fibres from the an¬ terior and posterior columns, or the motor and sensory tracks of the medulla spinalis. It may, perhaps, admit of some dispute, whether the laryngeal muscles, and the re¬ current nerve supplying them, are to be considered as voluntary, in the strictest sense of the term; and their action may possibly be modified by the influence of the sympa¬ thetic : but the nature and function of the superior laryn¬ geal nerve can hardly be mistaken. The exquisite sensi¬ bility of the mucous membrane at the entrance of the larynx at once stamps the character of the nervous filaments which supply it: we recognise them as nerves of common sensation, performing a duty similar to that exercised by the twigs of the fifth pair supplying the conjunctiva, the membrane of the nose, the external auditory passage and membrana tympani; all of which, as well indeed as the cutaneous nerves distributed over the whole surface of the body, derive their origin from the same medullary track, and belong to the same class as regards their function. They constitute the safeguards—the sentinels to the animal frame, the intelligencers of approaching mischief; and they severally impart a degree of sensibility, more or less ex¬ quisite, in proportion to the importance of the organ over which they keep watch, and its liability to external injury. We may, therefore, consider the superior laryngeal branch of the par vagum as a nerve of common sensation ; and we may fairly infer, that, with the exception of the few muscular filaments it contains, it is derived from the sensory column of the spinal cord; in fact, that it is analogous to the posterior roots of the spinal nerves ; and that the ganglion which forms the subject of this paper is the ganglion belonging and appended to the sensory portion of the par vagum, or, in other words, as Sir Astley has described it, “ the ganglion of the superior laryngeal branch^.” This expression appears to me to require a little modification, or rather explanation. The name by which Sir Astley has designated the ganglion is at once correct and judicious, inasmuch as the laryngeal branch is derived from the ganglion itself; but at the same time it seems to be too exclusive