THE CEREBELLUM 



295 



of the folium than along the fissures, in which latter situation they are oiten 

 less typical. They possess a large flask-shaped body, about 60 //. in diameter, 

 from the pointed and outwardly directed end of which usually a single robust 

 dendrite arises. The chief process, relatively thick and very short, divides 

 into two branches, which at first diverge and run more or less horizontally 

 and then turn sharply outwards to assume a course vertical to the surface and 

 to undergo repeated subdivision. The arrangement of the larger dendrites 

 is very striking and recalls the branching of the antlers of a deer. The 

 smaller processes arise at varying and often acute angles, the completed 

 branching resulting, as seen in silver preparations (Fig. 343), in an arbor- 

 ization of astonishing richness and extent, that may reach almost to the outer 

 boundary of the molecular layer. The dendritic ramification of each cell is 



Molecular layer 

 Granule layer 

 White matter 



Cells of Purkinje 



\ 



Central limb of white matter 



FIG. 342. Section across cerebellar folium, showing relationsof cortex to underlying white matter. X 10 



limited, however, to a narrow zone extending across the folium and, hence, 

 when examined in sections cut parallel with the plane of the folium, the 

 expansions of these cells are found to be confined to tracts separated by 

 zones of the molecular layer that are uninvaded by the dendrites. The 

 axone of the Purkinje cell arises from the rounded basal or deeper end of 

 the body and at once enters the subjacent granule layer, which it traverses 

 to gain the white medullary substance of the folium. During their course 

 the axones give off a few recurrent collaterals that lose themselves within the 

 granule layer or end, in part, within the molecular stratum. 



The basket-cells lie chiefly within the deeper half of the molecular 

 layer. They possess an irregular stellate body (10-20 /*), from which 

 several dendrites radiate. Their chief feature is the axone, which extends 

 across the folium along and to the outer side of the Purkinje cells. During 

 this course, the axone gives off from three to six collaterals that descend to 

 the cells of Purkinje, whose bodies they surround and enclose with a basket- 



