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18 Natural History of the Teeth.
Sir Charles Bell, whose theory of the different classes of
nerves, and the distinct office to which each is assigned, have
ranked him among the first physiologists of the age, is com-
posed of two portions, a sensitive, and a motor portion. The
sensitive portion leaves a small ganglion called the semilunar,
in three great branches; viz. the ophthalmic, the superior max-
illary, and the inferior maxillary.
The ophthalmic branch is distributed to the eyelids and parts
contiguous, to the nose and integuments of the forehead and
communicates by inosculating branches, with the superior
maxillary nerve, and with a portion of the seventh pair or au-
ditory nerve.
The superior maxillary nerve possesses a more intimate con-
nexion with our subject, as its branches supply the whole of
the teeth of the upper jaw. It is divided into various branches,
the names of which, it is not necessary to mention. These
branches are distributed to the orbit, temples, nose, cheek,
mouth and palate. The vidian nerve, one of its branches, is of
considerable importance, as it is connected with the great
sympathetic nerve, by means of its deep seated branch. This.
intimate connexion with the great medium of sympathy be-
tween all the vital organs of the body, cannot but be consider-
ed as highly important in accounting for the various sympa-
thies existing between the teeth and other parts, and must not
be lost sight of, when we enter upon the effects of the irritation
of diseased teeth, gums, and sockets, upon the general system,
and the fatal effects of teething, in a future part of* this work.
The inferior maxillary nerve, after giving off some small
branches to the neighboring parts, divides into two important
nerves, the gustatory or the. nerve of the sense of taste, and
the inferior maxillary, which passes in a canal through the
lower jaw distributing filaments to the teeth. The gustatory
nerve has a connexion with a part of the seventh pair, or audi-
tory nerve, by means of a communicating branch, and from
this connexion, the sympathetic pain in the ear arising from
decayed teeth, especially if the wisdom tceih of the lower jaw