THE VERTEBRA IN GENERAL. 525 
central, the other four are in pairs called the greater and lesser horns. 
‘hey are connected by ligaments. 
THE Bopy resembles a two-pronged fork in form, having a zentral 
portion flat, an appendix, or spur, which lies in the centre of the muscles 
of the tongue, and two branches. At the sides of the central portion are 
two little knobs for the articulation of the lesser cornua. 
THE HORNS are four in number, two short and two long; the former 
ascend obliquely from the sides of the bodies, and end in oblong flattened 
smooth surfaces for the attachment of the long horns. These are much 
larger than the short horns, constituting two long, flat, thin bones, which 
give attachment to the stylo-hyoideus and hyoideus magnus muscles, and 
also to the constrictors of the pharynx. The bones composing the os 
hyoides are delineated in connexion with the larynx in the twenty-first 
chapter. 
CHARACTERS OF VERTEBRA IN GENERAL. 
EveRY VERTEBRA from the head to the sacrum is made up of certain 
parts, to the uses of which in the animal economy attention has been 
already drawn at page 310. These are—Ist, a body, which may at once 
be recognised as the central and most substantial part ; 2dly, projecting 
upwards from its upper edges are the two lamina, or sides of the ring, in 
which les the spinal cord; 3dly, at the upper part of the ring is a pro- 
jection, more or less marked, called the spinous process ; 4th, projecting 
outwards from each side of the body is the lateral process, intended to 
give insertion to muscles, and in the region of the back affording a firm 
attachment to the ribs. In addition to the connexion between the bodies 
of the contiguous vertebrae by means of a thick fibro-cartilage, there is 
also a distinct articular surface on each side of the anterior and posterior 
faces of the body, which is placed upon a projection called the articular 
or oblique process. ‘Thus, each vertebra has four oblique processes, two 
transverse processes, a spinous process, and two lamin or sides to its 
large foramen, in addition to its body. This last part presents an anterior 
and a posterior surface, more or less oval, by which it is united to the 
next adjacent vertebre ; a superior face, which forms the floor of the 
spinal canal, and an inferior face, which is clothed with muscle on each 
side of a projecting rough line, called, wherever it is marked, the inferior 
spine. 
Throughout the spine no two vertebre are exactly alike, even the sixth 
and seventh dorsal showing a slight change of form in the inclination of 
their spinous processes. But between the first and second cervical and 
the last lumbar the difference is so marked, that they are not at once 
perceived by the casual observer to belong to the same class of bones. 
In this change the transition is gradual, the sixth and seventh cervical 
resembling the first and second dorsal, and so on in succession trom before 
backwards. 
GENERAL CHARACTERS OF THE CERVICAL VERTEBR~. 
IN THE HORSE THE CERVICAL VERTEBR# are each very long as compared 
with those of most of the mammalia, being, however, exceeded in this re- 
spect by the camelopard. They present an irregularly cuboidal shape, and 
may be distinguished from those of the back and loins by the following 
characters :—1st. The inferior spine of the body is strongly marked, and 
terminates posteriorly in a tubercle (Fig. 12, 17). 2d. The head of the 
