Vertebral column

“ Little can be said of the vertebral column, since only the molds of a few vertebræ remain, and these are so obscured by a closely adherent pellicle of carbonaceous material that their form can not be distinctly discerned. They are high, with relatively broad neural spines. There are no ribs preserved. The pelvis is obscured, but it is possible to determine the presence of an elongate ilium and an ischium. The leg of the left side is the best preserved of all the elements, and it is to this that our attention will be confined. ”

“ The vertebral column, biologically the most primitive, fundamental, and oldest part of the skeleton, the most fixed portion, of our body, since the skeleton is the most solid portion of the organism—the vertebral column, which resisted and was strong through the desperate struggles of primitive man when he fought against the desert-lion, when he conquered the mammoth, when he quarried the solid rock and shaped the iron to his uses, bends, and cannot resist, under the yoke of the school. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There is a vertebral column, running the entire length of the animal, the individual segments of which are accurately fitted together, bound to each other by a complicated and firm system of ligaments, and containing continuous nerve-structures; here are muscles running from bone to bone, long internal organs, intestinal canal, liver, etc., and covering the whole is a perfectly continuous and very tough dermal envelope. There is no more possibility for it to unjoint than for a person to unjoint his head from his trunk. ”

“ The vertebral column of a man, is subject, as a whole, to certain general strains—the weight of the body, together with the reactions involved by all considerable muscular efforts; and in conformity with this, it has a certain general integration. ”

“ The 5, probably 6, specimens which represent them offer various views of the vertebral column, and in none is there any trace of ventral or thoracic armature. Limbs can be ascribed to them with probability only. The vertebræ are of moderate length, with well-developed zygapophyses, and a short and not very elevated neural spine in the dorsal region, which is not sculptured in any way. The generic character is seen in the ribs. ”

“ If fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals, all possess vertebral columns, it follows, on the evolution hypothesis, that the vertebral column became a part of the organization at an earlier period than did the four-chambered heart, the teeth in sockets, and the mammas, which distinguish one of these groups, or than did the toothless beak, the tri-locular heart, and the feathers, which distinguish another of these groups, and so on. ”

“ The tail of the duck, like that of all living birds, is very short, and the posterior caudal vertebrae are united together, forming the pygostyle. The vertebral column may be divided into cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and caudal regions, but the boundaries between the several regions are ill-defined.
The Cervical Vertebrae.
All the vertebrae anterior to the first one that bears a rib meeting the sternum are regarded as cervical vertebrae. There are therefore sixteen cervical vertebrae, the last two of which bear well developed ribs. All are freely movable on one another. ”

“ Let those who talk of education and morality and similar themes be sure that they are benefactors and not executioners, and let those who wish to do good seek the light of science.
Curvatures of the vertebral column, such as lordosis and kyphosis, cannot be considered solely in relation to the thorax, but in relation to the pelvis as well, because, especially in lordosis, the lumbar vertebræ are also involved, while the pelvis also suffers a characteristic deformity. ”

“ 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 exoskeleton generally has the form of epidermal scales, which are often combined with underlying bony dermal plates or scutes and may sometimes form a continuous armour. Neither feathers nor true hairs are ever present. The vertebral column is generally divisible into the five usual regions. The centra of the vertebrae vary enormously, and may be amphicoelous, procoelous, opisthocoelous or flat, but they never have saddle-shaped articulating surfaces. The quadrate is always large, and is sometimes fixed, sometimes movable. ”

“ No treatment can be effectual, unless the other curvatures are corrected; for the head is placed so to preserve the equilibrium of the body. The head is to be supported, and its weight removed from the vertebral column by a curved iron rod, attached to the back of stays fastened on the383 loins, leathern straps passing from the top of the rod under the chin and over the occiput. By the use of such apparatus for a considerable time, the vertebral column may regain its perpendicular direction, and all deformity of the neck be consequently removed. ”

“ Although costal plates and the vertebral column grow in direct proportion to each other throughout life from a period shortly after hatching, the vertebral column apparently grows more rapidly than the costals shortly before and possibly also shortly after hatching, at least in kyphotic and probably also in normal specimens. An exceptionally early date of fusion of costal plates and ribs would thus result in a kyphotic condition, and it may well be assumed that the earlier the fusion, the greater the hypertrophy would be. ”

“ The anterior is sometimes called the atlas, but it is evidently not the homologue of the atlas of the rabbit, since the first spinal nerve has a corresponding distribution to the twelfth cranial of the mammal, and since, therefore, it is probable that the mammalian skull = the frog's skull + one (or more) vertebrae incorporated with it. Posteriorly the vertebral column terminates in the urostyle, a calcified unsegmented rod. The vertebrae have transverse processes, but no ribs. ”

“ This system becomes stronger as we advance in age; in old age, it becomes hard and yields with difficulty from the peculiar nature of its nutritive substances. It is to this circumstance that must be attributed, 1st, the stiffness and inflexibility of the vertebral column, whose fibro-cartilages keep all the pieces in a kind of immobility ”

“ The short bones are placed in general in parts where are found united mobility and solidity, as in the vertebral column, the tarsus, and the metatarsus. Always small, they are in great number in the regions which they occupy ”

“ The atlas vertebra transverse, nearly twice as broad as high; the central canal subtrigonal, narrow below. Skull nearly one-third the entire length of the body. Lachrymal bone wanting. The zygomatic process is formed of the malar bone. Vertebral column rough and rather spongy. Vertebræ 50: 7 cervical, 11 dorsal, 8 lumbar, 24 caudal. The atlas separate; the other 6 cervical united by their bodies and spines into one consolidated mass, and sometimes united to the first dorsal vertebra. The atlas subquadrangular, broader than long. The transverse process truncated. ”

“ Hence the sacrum and coccyx of the adult are the false, whilst the lumbar, dorsal and cervical are the true vertebrae.
The vertebrae are irregularly-shaped bones, but as a rule have certain characters in common. Each possesses a body and an arch, which enclose a ring, with certain processes and notches. The body, or centrum, is a short cylinder, which by its upper and lower surfaces is connected by means of fibro- cartilage with the bodies of the verte- brae immediately above and below. The collective series of vertebral bodies forms the great column of the spine. ”

“ With the belly of the cartilage-knife held transversely across the spinal axis the intervertebral disks on both sides of the next-to-the-last lumbar vertebra are cut down to the level of the canal. If the lumbar vertebræ are sufficiently elevated by the block placed beneath the abdomen, the cutting of the disks allows the neighboring vertebræ to spring away, so that the body of the vertebra thus separated can be cut out by the bone-forceps or chisel. The spinal canal is thereby exposed; so that the Brunetti chisels may now be used in cutting the pedicles and stripping off the vertebral bodies. ”

“ The term spina bifida occulta is applied to a condition in which there is no protrusion of the contents of the vertebral canal, although the vertebral arches are deficient. The skin over the gap is often puckered and adherent, and is frequently covered with a growth of coarse hair. ”

“ The transverse processes of the dorsal vertebræ, from the second to the sixth, are well developed and are bridged over with a thin layer of bone. The ventral spines are partly fused and form a very prominent and continuous ridge. (Fig. 11, No. A, 1, shows the fused superior spines; No. 2, the fused inferior spines; and No. 4, the intervertebral foramina.)
The Lumbo-sacral Vertebræ (Fig. 5, Part II, No. 4) . Location.—The fused lumbo-sacral section of the spinal column forms the roof of the pelvic cavity.
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Fig. ”

“ In Man, in consequence partly of the disposition of the articular surfaces of the vertebrae, and largely of the elastic tension of some of the fibrous bands, or ligaments, which connect these vertebrae 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 last two cervical vertebrae bear long movable ribs which articulate by distinct capitular and tubercular processes, but do not meet the sternum. The thoracic ribs are eight in number, and each is divisible into a vertebral and a sternal portion. The first five thoracic ribs are flattened curved bars of bone, which articulate by a prominent capitulum with the centrum of the corresponding vertebra, and by a tuberculum with the transverse process. Projecting backwards from each is a large hooked uncinate process. ”