COMMON VERTEBRAL LIGAMENTS. 



135 



brse ; whilst the deeper ones pass only between adjacent vertebra3. The 

 band is thicker towards the middle of the bodies of the vertebra3 than 

 at their margins, or over the intervertebral cartilages ; by which means 

 the transverse depressions of the bodies are filled up, and the surface of 

 the column rendered more even. The fibres adhere more closely to the 

 margins of the bones than to the middle of their bodies, and still more 



Fig lis.— The 5rH, 6tii, Tin, Sth Fig. US. 



AND 9th Dorsal Veiitebr.e, with 



A PART OF THE GTH, 7th, AND Sth 



Bibs, from the right side and 



FRONT. (A. T.) i 



1 to 2, the anterior common liga- 

 ment of the bodies of the vertebrte ; at 

 4- +, a portion of the ligament is 

 removed so as to expose the inter- 

 vertebral plate between the Sth and 

 9th vertebra?, in which the diagonal 

 fibres of the external laminae of the 

 intervertebral disc are represented. 

 (The further description of tins figure 

 will be found at p. 141.) 



closely to the invertebral car- 

 tilages. Upon the sides of the 

 bodies there are some fibres 

 which are thin and scattered, 

 and reach from one bone to 

 another. 



The posterior common 

 ligament is situated within 

 the spinal canal, and is at- 

 tached to the posterior surface 

 of the bodies of the vertebras ; 

 it extends from the axis to the 

 sacrum. At its upper extremity 

 it is continuous with the apparatus ligaraentosus 



It is smooth, 

 shining, and broader at the upper than at" the lower part of the spine. 



Fig. 119. — The Bodies of three Lumbar Vertebra;, seen frou Fig. 119. 



BEHIND, WITH THE POSTERIOR CoMMON LiGAMENT. 3 



The arches have been removed by cutting through the pedicles. 

 Tlie narrowing of the posterior common ligament opposite the 

 middle of each body, and its greater width and attachments opposite 

 the intervertebral discs, are represented. 



In the neck it extends quite across the bodies of 



the vertebrre, but in the back and loins it is broader 



op]30site the intervertebral cartilages than at the 



middle of the bodies, so that its margins present a 



series of points or dentations with intervening concave 



spaces. It adheres firmly to the fibro-cartilages and 



to the contiguous margins of the bodies of the vertebras, but it is 



separated from the middle of the bodies by the transverse parts of the 



large venous plexu.s. Between the ligament and the prolongation of the 



dura mater which lines the canal, some loose connective tissue is 



interposed. 



