The projection of the forebrain on the pons and cerebellum

Abstract

Although the existence of the cortico-pontine fibres has long been recognized and their functions partially elucidated in more recent times, there has as yet been no solution of the problem of their distribution in the pons and projection on the cerebellum. The thorough investigation of the problem requires prolonged and tedious experimental work and has, probably on that account, hitherto been largely neglected. But experiments are not performed only by man. In obscure recesses of the animal kingdom lie hidden experiments of Nature which, confined within the limits of the direction of evolution chosen for them, have been condemned to carry their eccentricity to its logical conclusion. Experiments of an even more casual nature have been performed by the indiscriminate invasion of every part of the human brain by pathological processes; but it is only by the patient collection and examination of vast masses of records that any continuous narrative can be extracted from the chaotic whole. Of the three types of experiment available it is more economical of time and material to chose that which comes ready-made: the method of comparative neurology. This, even if it does not supply a complete answer, at least provides valuable clues for the more accurate direction of the other methods.