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vagus nerve
Either of the tenth and longest pair of cranial nerves, passing through the neck and thorax into the abdomen and supplying sensation to part of the ear, the larynx, and the pharynx, motor impulses to the vocal-cord muscles, and motor and secretory impulses to the abdominal and thoracic viscera. The Latin vagus means "wandering".
The vagus runs down in the carotid sheath, between the vein and artery, giving branches to the pharynx and larynx. An important branch to the intrinsic muscles of the larynx is known as the recurrent laryngeal nerve, for it hooks round the underside of the subclavian artery on the right to turn back to the larynx; the right recurrent laryngeal nerve is entirely within the neck, but the left descends to the thorax to hook round the aortic arch before ascending. Each recurrent nerve is intimately related to the back of the thyroid gland. The vagi are part of the parasympathetic nervous system which, in turn, is part of the autonomic nervous system.
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• ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
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