THE CRANIAL NERVES AND THEIR NUCLEI 



i8 7 



lie just beneath the ependyma or may be buried in the gray matter of the rhom- 

 boid fossa. On reaching the median plane these fibers decussate, sink into the 

 reticular formation, and join the trapezoid body or lateral lemniscus of the 

 opposite side. Some probably fail to cross, since clinical experience and evi- 

 dence based on animal experiments tend to show that a part of the fibers in the 

 lateral lemniscus represent an uncrossed path from the cochlear nuclei of the 

 same side (Kreidl, 1914). 



Transverse temporal gyrus 





Auditory radiation 



Medial geniculate body 

 Inferior cotticulus 



-^"Lateral lemnisci 



Collaterals to nucleus of 

 lateral lemniscus 



Rostral portion of the pons- 



Caudal portion of the pans 



Superior olive-'' 



/Stria medullares 



, Dorsal cochlear nucleus 



-Ventral cochlear micleus 

 Cochlear nene 

 > Vestibular nerve 



Trapezoid body ' 



Nucleus of the trapezoid body 

 Fig. 134. Diagram of the auditory pathway. (Based on the researches of Cajal and Kreidl.) 



As the lateral lemniscus ascends in the reticular formation of the pons, there 

 are scattered among its fibers many nerve-cells which together constitute the 

 nucleus of the lateral lemniscus. To these cells it gives off collaterals and pos- 

 sibly also terminal branches, and from them it is said to receive additional fibers. 

 But according to Cajal the axons arising here do not ascend in the lateral lem- 

 niscus, but are directed medially into the reticular formation. 



On reaching the mesencephalon the lateral lemniscus terminates in part in 

 the inferior cotticulus, but also sends branches and direct fibers by way of the 

 inferior quadrigeminal brachium to the medial geniculate body. While the me- 



