An improved method of preparing central nervous system tissue for examination in a scanning electron microscope is described. In cerebellar cortex, the precise distribution of synaptic junctions on Purkinje cell bodies, as well as complex arrangements of neurites in the glomeruli of the granule cell layer, are directly visualized. The method also provides views of glial cell processes investing brain surfaces, blood vessels and neurons. The principal advantage of a scanning electron microscopic study is that relationships between cells in the brain can be seen directly instead of inferred from laborious serial reconstructions or other more complex and indirect anatomical methods.