GEOMETRY OF HUMAN CEREBELLAR VERMIS

Some general statements concerning the overall geometry of the cerebellar vermis are presented as a preliminary step in the theoretical analysis of its morphology. From a large number of measurements made on a sample of 30 human cerebella the following relationships may be demonstrated: (1) the mean outline of superimposed sagittal sections through the mid‐vermis fits very closely the curve (Formula Presented.) (2) the relation of the total circumference (y) of individual lobes or of the entire vermis to a measurement of the outside (visible) perimeter (x) is shown to be fitted almost exactly by the equation y = ax2; (3) the relation of total circumference to outside perimeter in the rat and the cat is found to be constant during development; (4) in the human arbor vitae the relation of the width of the “trunk” to the sum of the widths of bifurcating branches is seen to be linear with a slope, in the midline, of approximately one; (5) no simple relationship could be ascertained in teh arbor vitae between angles of branching and widths of branches or trunks. Copyright © 1968 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.