In following out the principle formerly laid down—that the study of the organization and functions of the part to which the nerve is distributed, will explain the peculiarities of its origin and connections—I have in this paper entered on a subject of great extent and difficulty.

As the Facial Nerve is one of a distinct class, it will be necessary to shew in what that class is peculiar—that it essentially belongs to the act of breathing—that the act of respiration being, in its ordinary condition, independent of the will, there are nerves appropriated to that function. At the same time, it must be shewn, as the apparatus of breathing is made subservient to other purposes in the economy, by what relations it is brought under the influence of the will.