MEDULLA OBLONGATA AND TEGMENTUM OF THE PONS. 381 



to the olive, and, then piercing the nucleus olivaris from the outer side, 

 enter the olivary body. Thence the fibers, again collected in a more compact 

 bundle, leave by way of the hilum, cross over the median line, and terminate 

 in the opposite olive. In general, they pursue the same course as the Sbrse 

 arcuatffi from the fiilet, from which they can be distinguished only after 

 degeneration (Fig. 242). If a cerebellar hemisphere be destroyed, they 

 dwindle away together with the opposite olive. Dorsal to the olive in the 

 region of the substantia reticularis are a few strands of fibers, which are 

 connected with fibers from the net-work surrounding the ganglion, and 

 extend upward in the tegmentum (Bechterew's central tract of the tegmentum: 

 Stilling's remnant of the lateral column). 



Fig. 242. — The cerebello-olivary division of the corpus restiforme. The blank 

 field in the left restiform body shows the position of the spinal division. 



The cerebello-olivary tract of the corpus restiforme comes principally 

 from the outer side of Stilling's "fleece." The latter is, in turn, connected 

 with the superior peduncle of the cerebellum (Brachium conjunctivum) by 

 means of the cerebellar nucleus dentatus, which it surrounds. Consequently 

 it will be seen that the olive, the opposite restiform body, the "fleece," the 

 superior cerebellar peduncle, and the red nucleus of the tegmentum (also 

 of the opposite side) form one conducting path. There is much evidence, 

 such as experiments on animals, which indicates that this path is important 

 for the maintenance of equilibrium and of muscle-tonus. Only mammals 

 have large, distinct olives (vide page 98). 



At the level of the pneumog-astric nucleus in the medulla most of the 



