NUMERICAL VARIATION IN THE HITMAN SPINE. 271 



pliological interest. The transverse and costal elements of the 7th are badly injured ; so 

 that it is not certain whether or not a free costal element existed on the left. Certainh'. 

 however, it was not a rib with even a miunte head in a socket, but at most a continuation 

 of the independence of a separate ossification. The appearance on the whole favors the 

 theory of such a piece havinu' i)een lost i-atlicr than broken off. The spinous process of 

 the 6th vertebra is bifid. The body of the 7th seems larger than usual, but is. perliaps, 

 not out of proportion to the large spine. 



. The thoracic vertebrae, l>i in number, are well formed in the upper part of the 

 region, except for the senile exostoses which begin to appear at the borders of several 

 of the vertebrae near the middle line. In the lower part these exostoses, though not 

 individually large, are more numerous, causing a marked prominence at the edges of the 

 bodies. There is also a suspicion of absorption of some of the bodies at the lower end. 

 The 1st I'ibs are broken, but the head. neck, and tu!)ei'cles on both sides are larger than 

 usual, as, indeed, is the whole spine. The heads enci'oach on the body of the 7th verte- 

 bra. The last thoracic (!20th) has a well-developed loth pair of ribs. The left rib is 

 about 12 cm. long, following the concavity. The right is longer, although broken at the 

 end. The joint of the left one seems to have lost all motion, luit there is no doubt that 

 it once existed. That on the right retains its freedom. The head of the lOtli rib rests 

 against two vertebrae on each side. The same is true of the 11th on the left, but on the 

 right the socket does not encroach on the lOtli thoracic vei'tebra. The 12th rib is wliollv 

 on the same vertebra on the I'ight. but on the left it certainly is against the disc above 

 and perhaps touches the 11th vertelu'a. The loth rib is certainly wholly on the same 

 vertebra on the right, and probaljly on the left, bat the head on both sides is much higher 

 than is usual for that of the ultimate rib. The change in the articular processes occurs 

 below the I'.lth vertebra on the left. Iiut on tiic right the joint is i-ather transitional. The 

 spinous process of the 20th is distinctly lumbar, but the transverse processes ai'e those of 

 a last thoracic. 



The lmnl)ar vertebrae are si.v in numbei', the last being sacralized on the left. Ex- 

 ostoses and moderate absorption of the bodies are most marked in the first two. The 

 bodies of the od. 4th. and oth, except for some exostoses at the top of the first, are very 

 normal. The transverse processes are too much injured for accurate description; but it 

 seems certain tliat those of the -id and 4th are the lonjjrest, and that there is not the usual 

 increase to the former and subsequent decrease. On the other hand the oth has the small 

 transverse processes of the penultimate. The 6th liunbar (the 26tli vertebra) is certainly 

 a praesacral. A very curious feature is that on the right the body of the 1st sacral via-te- 

 bra rises neai-ly 1 cm. al)ove the level of the lateral mass. The disc below the 6th lumbar 

 is completeh- changed into bone, and from the size of the cicatrix can never have been uf 



