[Location and somatotopic organization of visceromotor, motor and sensory columns of the cranial nerves].

The author describes the origins and endings of sensory, motor and visceromotor fibers of cranial nerves, special senses excluded. He gives cytological and cytochemical characteristics of neurons and relates experimental and pathological data. References are mostly limited to recent papers. Somatotopic organization is particularly stressed. Description of the somatic sensory or trigeminal column is treated at length by reason of the superposition of two somatotopic organizations: dermatomes and "onion skin". The visceral sensory column includes the caudal part of the nucleus of the solitary fasiciculus. It has a rather diffuse representation of carotid and aortic baro- and chemoceptors and of vagal afferents from the lungs. After a short account of the generally well known somatic motor columns, the author discusses the problem of the visceromotor columns where the representation of the viscera and sometimes even the localization of motor neurons are doubtful.