[The intermediate nerve system].

A comparative-embryological study (223 fetuses of man, cat, dog, albino rat and mole) has established a similarity in the development and structure of the intermediate nerve in mammalia. The nerve under study represents a complex structural-functional system. Its afferent component includes a geniculate ganglion, a nucleus of the solitary tract, root, peripheral branches. A superior salivary nucleus, a root, pterygopalatine, submandibular, sublingual and auricular (in man) parasympathetic ganglia of the head, peripheral branches. The intermediate nerve fibers are included as additional sources in branches of other cranial nerves, vegetative ganglia and plexuses being spread on a considerable territory of the head. The intermediate nerve is an isolated anatomical structure and deserves being detached into a separate pair of cranial nerves.