Nature and Uses of Primary Data Sources Page 1 of 14 ______________________________________________________________________.
cranial nerve - any of the 12 paired nerves that originate in the brain stem. 1  nerve, nervus - any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body. 2  first cranial nerve, nervii olfactorii, olfactory nerve - a collective term for numerous olfactory filaments in the nasal mucosa.
Cranial refers to the head end and caudal to the tail end. Anterior and posterior. In a quadruped the terms are synonymous with cranial and caudal. In a biped (Homo) anterior is used to indicate the ventral surface and posterior to indicate the dorsal surface.