13

gives a detailed description, as well as of allits filaments of communication. The spheno-palatine ganglion also exists in the horse,a fact which has been denied by M. Des-moulins. Surrounded by cellular tissue, thespheno-palatine ganglion of the horse is

composed of a series of smaller ganglia, butthe whole of which, joined to the nerveswhich are near it, may almost be consideredas a small system of its own.

ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARTERIES TN

THE HEAD OF THE SHEEP.

BY DR. J. C. 1. BARKOW.*

* Nov. Acta Acad. Natur. Curios. Tom.xiii. pars i.

The arteries of the head of the sheep arevery remarkable in their distribution. Thecommon carotid gives off collateral branchesbefore it divides into two principal trunks,from which all the other branches are givenoff. The branches which pass off before the

principal bifurcation are-the superior thy-roideal, the ascending pharyngeal, the occi-pital, the lingual, the posterior auricular, anda parotidean. The external maxillary arteryis wanting, and its branches are furnished byother vessels. The common carotid bifur-cates into the facial and internal maxillary;the facial furnishes the anterior, auricular,and the temporal; it is continued under thename of transversalis faciei, which gives offthe coronary artery of the upper lip. Theinferior coronary is furnished by the mental,which is itself a branch of the internal max-

illary. This latter is a very important ar-

tery in the sheep, for it not only furnishesbranches to the face, but also all thosewhich, in man, come from the internal carotid. It gives off on each side three branches, which penetrate separately intothe cranium, where they ramify in the retemirabile, from which they pass to form the

simple trunk of the cerebral arteries, whichcommunicates with the basilar, and is dis-tributed to the brain. As there exists nointernal carotid, the carotid canal is want-

ing ; the sulcus, which is observed on thesides of the sella tursica, and which resem-bles the carotid sulcus in man, contains

only the inferior cerebral vein, which passesfrom the cranium by the spheno-petrosalfissure.The ophthalmic artery is also a branch

of the internal maxillary, and furnishes theethmoidal artery and the posterior ciliary;the central artery of the retina, on the con-trary, arises from the trunk of the cerebra!artery, when it has passed from the 1’ete

mirabile; the olfactory nerve, also, receivessome very small branches from this vessel.The internal maxillary furnishes the inferior

maxillary to the face, which receives thename of mental, after having passed fromthe mental foramen ; the superior alveolarand infra orbitar, which gives off a ptery-goid branch ; it terminates in bifurcatinginto two branches, which receive the namesofpterygo-palatine and spheno-palatine.With respect to the branches which pass

off from the common carotid, it is necessaryto be observed, that the ascending pharyn-geal acd the occipital arise from that arterybefore the lingual ; and with respect to thesuperior maxillary, the first cerebral brancharises between the inferior maxillary andsuperior alveolar ; the two other cerebralarteries, and the ophthalmic, are situatedbetween the superior alveolar and infra-orbitar.

FIVE CHILDREN AT ONE BIRTH. *

*Gemeinsame deutsche Zeitschrift fürGeburtskunde. Tom. ii. 1827.

A woman, aetat. 87, who had been mar.ried five years, of a middle stature, robustconstitution, after having been delivered oftwins two years before, was brought to bedof five children. She went the regular timewithout any thing remarkable occurring, ex-cept a sense of weakness and an occasionalloss of appetite and sleep. The first childpassed out easily after the membraneshad been ruptured; the others came moreslowly, and the last with great difficulty.Each was inclosed in a particular bag, andimmediately followed by its placenta : allcame with the head presentation. The twofirst were boys, then a girl and a boy, andlastly a girl. They all died before the thirdday. Their length, in general, was from15 to 161/2 inches ; the second boy did notweigh two pounds after his death. Al-

though regularly formed, they did not ap-pear to have arrived at perfect maturity. Inthe boys. the umbilical cord was 16 incheslong, and 12 in the girls ; no pulsation couldbe felt at the time of birth..The children-had an old look ; their voice was tremulous,they slept continually, and their tempera-ture was very low. The mother, althoughweak, soon recovered.

BONY CONCRETIONS IN THE SUBSTANCE OF

THE PLACENTA.†

† Archives Générales, Fevrier, 1828.

In Dresden and its environs, PofessorCarus says, that ossific deposition in the

placenta is observed in two or three, andsometimes in five or eight, cases in a hun-dred. It is most frequently found in womenof a scrofulous or cachectic diathesis, or

those subject to nervous affections. Theseconcretions never exist on the internal or