Observations on the Innervation of the Sublingual and Submaxillary Glands

I~l a research published by Retzius 1 in 1880, which gives the detailed results of an examination of the various ganglia found in connection with many of the cerebral nerves, the jugu'lar and cer-vical ganglia of the vagus, the jugular and petrosal of the glosso-pharyngeal, the geniculate of the seventh and the Gasserian of the fifth, are described as presenting a structure identical with that of the spinal ganglia. The acoustic ganglion, while it presents some structural peculiarities, was also classed with this group. All other head ganglia-namely, the otic, spheno-palatine, ciliary, and submax-i l l a r y-a r e described as containing cells resembling those of the sympathetic system. The above observations were made on teased preparations, which no doubt accounts for the fact that they did not receive the general recognition due them. Thanks to the Golgi method, doubts concerning the shape of a nerve cell need no longer be entertained. This method has shown that cells of the spinal ganglia possess a round or oval body, from which springs a single process which divides into two branches a short distance from the cell body, while the sympathetic cells are multipolar, having one axis-cylinder process and numerous proto-plasmic branches. The two types are not to be mistaken. Accordingly we find that nearly all the "head ganglia" have been subjected to renewed investigation. Van Gehuehten ~ has shown that, when stained with the Golgi method, the Gasserian ganglion and the ganglia on the vagus and glosso-pharyngeal, "are comparable in all points to the spinal ganglia," and Lenhoss6k 8 that the cells of the geniculate ganglion are of the same type. In the acous