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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 992

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 992

nucleus near the middle of the cell. The peripheral end of the cell terminates at the gustatory pore in a fine hair-like filament, the gustatory hair. The central process passes toward the deep extremity of the bud, and there ends in single or bifurcated varicosities. The nerve fibrils after losing their medullary sheaths enter the taste bud, and end in fine extremities between the gustatory cells; other nerve fibrils ramify between the supporting cells and terminate in fine extremities; these, however, are believed to be nerves of ordinary sensation and not gustatory.


FIG. 851– Taste-bud, highly magnified. (See enlarged image)

Nerves of Taste.—The chorda tympani nerve, derived from the sensory root of the facial, is the nerve of taste for the anterior two-thirds of the tongue; the nerve for the posterior third is the glossopharyngeal.
 
1b. The Organ of Smell
 
  
(Organon Olfactorius; The Nose)


The peripheral olfactory organ or organ of smell consists of two parts: an outer, the external nose, which projects from the center of the face; and an internal, the nasal cavity, which is divided by a septum into right and left nasal chambers.

the External Nose (Nasus Externus; Outer Nose)—The external nose is pyramidal in form, and its upper angle or root is connected directly with the forehead; its free angle is termed the apex. Its base is perforated by two elliptical orifices, the nares, separated from each other by an antero-posterior septum, the columna. The margins of the nares are provided with a number of stiff hairs, or vibrissæ, which arrest the passage of foreign substances carried with the current of air intended for respiration. The lateral surfaces of the nose form, by their union in the middle line, the dorsum nasi, the direction of which varies considerably in different individuals; the upper part of the dorsum is supported by the nasal bones, and is named the bridge. The lateral surface ends below in a rounded eminence, the ala nasi.

Structure.—The frame-work of the external nose is composed of bones and cartilages; it is covered by the integument, and lined by mucous membrane.
  The bony frame-work occupies the upper part of the organ; it consists of the nasal bones, and the frontal processes of the maxillæ.
  The cartilaginous frame-work (cartilagines nasi) consists of five large pieces, viz., the cartilage of the septum, the two lateral and the two greater alar cartilages, and several smaller pieces, the lesser alar cartilages (Figs. 852, 853, 854). The various cartilages are connected to each other and to the bones by a tough fibrous membrane.
  The cartilage of the septum (cartilago septi nasi) is somewhat quadrilateral in form, thicker at its margins than at its center, and completes the separation between the nasal cavities in front. Its anterior margin, thickest above, is connected with the nasal bones, and is continuous with the anterior margins of the lateral cartilages; below, it is connected to the medial crura of the greater alar cartilages by fibrous tissue. Its posterior margin is connected with the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid; its inferior margin with the vomer and the palatine processes of the maxillæ.