CORTEX (derived from the Latin, meaning bark) . In botany, the bark of an exogenous plant, as the bark of a tree. In physi ology, the outer layers of tissue, or outside section of a part of the brain, or of some internal organ, or gland. The cerebral cortex is the corresponding portion of the cerebellum. The grey matter of both brain and spinal cord is chiefly characterized by synaptic connections between different neurones, and systems of neurones. Hence the cerebral cortex has been generally regarded as the prin cipal "switchboard," or central correlation area for nervous im pulses. In acerebrate human monsters (children born without cerebral hemispheres), the cortex of the suprarenal glands has also been found missing (W. Timme, Lectures on Endocrinology). The suprarenal cortex in man is about nine times the size of the suprarenal medulla; while in lower animals the suprarenal cortex is notably smaller in proportion to the medulla than in man. The cerebral cortex, correspondingly, in man, is much more highly developed than in the lower animals.