Vertebrae

“ The transverse processes project out- ward, one from each side of the arch. The articular processes project, two upward and two downward, and are for connecting adjacent vertebrae together. The notches, situated on the upper and lower borders of the pedicles, form in the articulated spine the intervertebral foramina through which the nerves pass out of the spinal canal.
The vertebrae in each group have characters which specially distinguish them. In man and all mammals, with few exceptions, whatever be the length of the neck, the cervical vertebrae Cervical are seven in number. ”

“ The spine is composed of vertebrae, and it extends from the head down to the loins. The vertebrae are all perforated, and, above, the bony portion of the head is connected with the topmost vertebrae, and is designated the 'skull'. ”

“ A peculiar fact may here be noticed with reference to the formation of the vertebral bodies in the tail of Scyllium, Raja, and possibly other forms, viz. that there are double as many vertebral bodies as there are myotomes and spinal nerves. This is not due to a secondary segmentation of the vertebræ but, as I have satisfied myself by a study of the development, takes place when the vertebral bodies first become differentiated. ”

“ These cranial vertebræ, four in number, correspond, it is said, to the four senses that have their seat in the head: there is the nasal vertebra, the centrum of which is the vomer, its spinal processes the nasal and ethmoid bones, and its ribs the upper jaws; there is the ocular vertebra, the centrum of which is the anterior portion of the sphenoid bone, its spinal processes the frontals, and its ribs the under jaws ”

“ Make a man lean forwards, with his arms folded across the chest; this will make prominent the spines of the vertebræ. The lower border of the trapezius will guide you to the spine of the twelfth dorsal vertebra. ”

“ In all this delicate mechanism which pervades every individual side-arm, we see provision for the double purpose of attaching itself to extraneous bodies, and apprehending its prey. Five of these arms are set off from each of the largest joints of the vertebral column. At Pl. 53. Fig. 7. a. we see the bases, or first joints of these side-arms articulating with the larger vertebræ, and inclined alternately to the right and left, for the purpose of occupying their position most advantageously for motion, without interfering with each other, or with the flexure of the vertebral column. ”

“ Two or three of the anterior dorsal vertebrae have very long slender spinous processes which in the living animal project beyond the general level of the skin forming distinct conical prominences, covered only by an exceedingly thin and naked integument. ”

“ I would, however, respectfully suggest, that that theory of cerebral vertebræ, on which, in this question, the comparative anatomists proceed as their principle, and which finds as little support in the geologic record from the actual history of the fore limbs as from the actual history of the bones of the cranium, may be more ingenious than sound. It is a shrewd circumstance, that the rocks refuse to testify in its favor. ”

“ By the vertical movements of the sixth and succeeding trunk vertebrae, with the interspinous bones which they support, on the rigid structure formed by the head and first five vertebrae, the file-like first interspinous bone moves backwards and forwards, and, by scraping against the ridges on the inner surfaces of the cleft neural spines, gives rise to a harsh grating noise, which is particularly unpleasant when artificially produced. ”

“ All along the spinal column, and between each two adjoining bones, are openings on each side, through which nerves pass out to be distributed to various parts of the body.
Between the vertebræ are pads or cushions of cartilage. These act as “buffers,” and serve to give the spine strength and elasticity and to prevent friction of one bone on another. Each vertebra consists of a body, the solid central portion, and a number of projections called processes. ”

“ The principal mass of bone in each vertebra is the body, or centrum, which is typically a cylinder, or modification of that form, and the two ends of the cylinder are the faces, by which the successive vertebræ are in contact with one another. ”

“ Most of the ribs have a head divided by a little ridge into two facets for articulation with the dorsal vertebræ, a flattened neck, a tuberosity at the base of the neck with a facet for articulation with the transverse process of the vertebra below, an angle, and a shaft, which is externally convex and is grooved on its lower edge for the intercostal vessels and nerve. ”

“ The dorsal or thoracic vertebrae are the next in rotation down the spine and are intermediate in size between those in the cervical and those in the lumbar region, and increase in size from above downward. ”

“ When the muscles have commenced to soften remove the body from the solution, pick the flesh away, and leave to dry.
Note that the main axis of the skeleton is composed of vertebræ placed end to end. How many vertebræ are there? What vertebræ bear ribs? The ribless ones beyond the body-cavity are called caudal vertebræ. Note the interspinal bones which support the fins, with large muscles on either side to control their action. Note that the group of bones supporting the pectoral fin is attached to the back of the brain-case and makes up the shoulder girdle. ”

“ The spine consists in an adult of twenty-six bones, in a young child of thirty-three, certain of the bones in the spine of the child becoming ankylosed or blended with each other in the adult. These blended bones lose their mobility and are called false vertebrae; whilst those which retain their mobility are the true verte- brae. The bones of the spine are arranged in groups, which are named from their position — vertebrae of the neck or cervical; of the chest, thoracic, formerly called dorsal; of the loins, lumbar; of the pelvis, sacral ”

“ The cervical vertebrae are smaller than those in any other region of the spine, and may be readily distinguished as they lie in the neck and extend from the base of the skull to the dorsal vertebrae, or the point of attachment of the first rib to the first dorsal. ”

“ Terrestrial or semi-aquatic vertebrata; skull bones pitted and grooved; lateral-line canals present in well-developed form; pineal foramen sometimes absent; sclerotic plates present; vertebræ rachitomous or embolomerous; notochord partly persistent; one or two sacral vertebræ; tail present, long or short; limbs and girdles well developed; limb bones well ossified and bones of arm and leg separate; pectoral and pelvic girdles composed of the usual stegocephalian elements; an osseous pubis present; a cleithrum present on the scapula ”

“ Long bones, like the humerus and femur, are suited to giving strength, form, and stiffness to certain parts, while irregular bones, like the vertebræ and the pelvic bones, are fitted for supporting and protecting organs. Others, like the wrist and ear bones, make possible a peculiar kind of motion, and still others, like the ribs, are adapted to more than one purpose. The vast differences in shape, size, structure, and surface among the various bones are but the conditions that adapt them to particular forms of service in the body. ”

“ The bones generally are spongy in texture, the cavities being filled with oil. In the vertebral column, the cervical region is short and immobile, and the vertebrae, always seven in number, are in many species more or less fused together into a solid mass. ”

“ Among the vertebrata in general, progress is marked by an increasing heterogeneity in the vertebral column, and more especially in the vertebræ constituting the skull: the higher forms being distinguished by the relatively larger size of the bones which cover the brain, and the relatively smaller size of those which form the jaw, etc. Now, this characteristic, which is stronger in Man than in any other creature, is stronger in the European than in the savage. ”

“ The Spine, Spinal or Vertebral Column, chine or backbone in man consists of a number of superimposed bones which are named vertebrae, because they can move or turn somewhat on Spine
each other. It lies in the middle of the back of the neck and trunk; has the cranium at its summit; the ribs at its sides, which in their turn support the upper limbs ; whilst the pelvis, with the lower limbs, is jointed to its lower end. ”

“ The arch has short and deep laminae; the ring is triangular; the spine is mas- sive and hatchet-shaped; the trans- verse processes are long and pointed ; the articular are thick and strong, the superior pair concave, the inferior convex, and the inferior notches, as in the thoracic vertebrae, are deeper than the superior. In the lumbar vertebrae and in the lower thoracic an accessory process projects from the base of each transverse process, and a mammillary tubercle from each superior articular process. ”

“ Cut the flesh from the thick portion of the tail.
8. Cut off the head at the first cervical vertebra, and clean the skull as previously described elsewhere, but leave the hyoid bone in its place.
9. Cut the flesh away from the neck vertebræ as well as you can. Be careful not to cut the sternum (or breastbone) , which is soft cartilage, and easily cut; nor the ends of any vertebral processes, nor any soft bones.
10. If the skeleton is a small one, it is apt to get quite bloody during the operation. ”

“ The dorsal spines of the vertebrae are connected with a set of ossified ligaments binding the whole dorso-lumbar region into a rigid mass—another peculiarity in which the structure is strikingly like that of birds. ”

“ The joints or the dorsal or back vertebræ are, notwithstanding, more close and compact than those of the loins; allowing of a wider range for bending and turning in the loins than the back.
12. The sternum and ribs move upward, to assist the chest in the expansion required for respiration; drawing the clavicles and the shoulders upwards in full inspiration, and tend to a contrary motion on expiration. Such movements also, characterise strong action and certain passion, and very apparent in a naked figure. ”

“ In Man, in consequence partly of the disposition of the articular surfaces of the vertebræ, and largely of the elastic tension of some of the fibrous bands, or ligaments, which connect these vertebræ together, the spinal column, as a whole, has an elegant S-like curvature, being convex forwards in the neck, concave in the back, convex in the loins, or lumbar region, and concave again in the sacral region; an arrangement which gives much elasticity to the whole backbone, and diminishes the jar communicated to the spine, and through it to the head, by locomotion in the erect position. ”

“ The vertebral column may be divided into five regions, the cervical, the dorsal, the lumbar, the sacral, and the caudal vertebræ. The heart has two auricles and two ventricles. The respiration is by lungs. ”

“ Figs. 7. 9. 11. mark the origin and insertion of muscular fibres, by which the.movement of every joint was regulated. At every articulation of the vertebrae, we see also the mode in which the crenated edges lock into one another, combining strength with flexibility. In Pl. 52, Figs. ll. and 13, the Vertebræ (d.) present five lateral surfaces of articulation, whereby the side-arms were attached to the vertebral column at distant intervals, as in the Pentacrinus Caput Medusæ, Pl. ”

“ The vertebral column begins to show the S-shaped flexure, characteristic of Man's back-bone; it presents also a human character in the form of its second neck vertebræ, and there are thirteen pairs of ribs, as in Man. ”

“ Newt, 35; anterior limb, 147; hyoid apparatus or visceral arches, 144, 181; pelvic girdle, 149; ribs, 145; shoulder girdle, 146; skull, 140; sternum, 145; vertebral column, 138 Notidanidae, 31; calcification of vertebrae, 114 ”

“ Apply this spinal branch of phrenology to the Sperm Whale. His cranial cavity is continuous with the first neck-vertebra; and in that vertebra the bottom of the spinal canal will measure ten inches across, being eight in height, and of a triangular figure with the base downwards. As it passes through the remaining vertebrae the canal tapers in size, but for a considerable distance remains of large capacity. Now, of course, this canal is filled with much the same strangely fibrous substance—the spinal cord—as the brain; and directly communicates with the brain. ”

“ The distinguished scientist Herr Professor Luitpold Blumenduft tendered medical evidence to the effect that the instantaneous fracture of the cervical vertebrae and consequent scission of the spinal cord would, according to the best approved tradition of medical science, be calculated to inevitably produce in the human subject a violent ganglionic stimulus of the nerve centres of the genital apparatus, thereby causing the elastic pores of the corpora cavernosa to rapidly dilate in such a way as to instantaneously facilitate the flow of blood to that part of the human anatomy known as the penis or male organ resulting in the phenomenon which has been denominated by the faculty a morbid upwards and outwards philoprogenitive erection in articulo mortis per diminutionem capitis.
So of course the citizen was only waiting for the wink of the word and he starts gassing out of him about the invincibles and the old guard and the men of sixtyseven and who fears to speak of ninetyeight and Joe with him about all the fellows that were hanged, drawn and transported for the cause by drumhead courtmartial and a new Ireland and new this, that and the other. ”