The pons is a broad, horseshoe-shaped mass of transverse nerve fibres that connect the medulla with the cerebellum. It is also the point of origin or termination for four of the cranial nerves that transfer sensory information and motor impulses to and from the facial region and the brain. The pons also serves as a pathway for nerve fibres connecting the cerebral cortex with the cerebellum.

Pons (?), n.; pl. Pontes (#). [L., a bridge.] Anat.

A bridge; -- applied to several parts which connect others, but especially to the pons Varolii, a prominent band of nervous tissue situated on the ventral side of the medulla oblongata and connected at each side with the hemispheres of the cerebellum; the mesocephalon. See Brain.

Pons asinorum. [L., literally, bridge of asses.] See Asses' bridge, under Ass.

 

© Webster 1913.