330 THE HORSE. 
PECULIARITIES OF THE DORSAL VERTEBRA. 
THE FIRST DORSAL VERTEBRA differs from the others in approaching to 
the form of the cervical, as manifested in the shortness of the spinous pro- 
cess, Which terminates in a point, and by the large size of its oblique 
processes. The second and third gradually assume the dorsal type. 
The seventeenth and eighteenth vertebre are devoid of the articulatory sur- 
faces on their transverse processes ; the eighteenth also is without the 
articular surfaces on the posterior and external faces of its body, there 
being no ribs here to articulate with it. 
The spinous processes, as far back as the twelfth, take a direction upwards 
and backwards ; the thirteenth takes a direction upwards, and those poste- 
rior to it take a direction upwards and forwards. The third, fourth, and 
fifth spinous processes are the longest, and afterwards they gradually 
diminish in length. 
GENERAL CHARACTERS OF THE LUMBAR VERTEBR. 
THESE ARE FIVE, and sometimes six, in number; the body is short and 
thick ; broader from side to side than from before backwards ; flattened 
superiorly, convex inferiorly, but not presenting so prominent a spinous 
ridge as the dorsal. Its articular convexity before and concavity behind 
assume rather an oval shape. The superior spinous process is shorter 
than the average of the dorsal vertebre ; it has broad, flat sides, and protu- 
berates at the front of the summit, having a slight inclination forwards ; the 
transverse processes, large and flattened above and below, stand out hori- 
zontally at right angles to the body for a considerable distance, contrasting 
strongly with the corresponding parts of the dorsal and cervical regions. 
Fic. 18.—PRoOFILE VIEW OF THE LUMBAR VERTERBR, SEEN FROM THE LEFT. 
A. Profile view of lumbar vertebre. cesses, by means of which the fifth arti- 
1. 1. 1. &c. Spinous processes. culates with a similar surface on the 
2. 2. 2. &c. Transverse processes; the ana- sixth, and the sixth with a correspond- 
logues of the ribs. ing surface on the sacrum, 
3. 3. 3. &c. Oblique processes. c. Surfaces articulating with corresponding ones 
a. a. a. &e. Bodies. on the last dorsal vertebra. 
b. 6. Articulating surfaces on transverse pro- d. Surfaces articulating with the sacrum. 
The oblique processes are larger than in the dorsal region ; they project 
from the roof of the arch in an horizontal direction (3, 3, 3, Fig. 18); 
the anterior surfaces in each of these joints are concave, widely separated, 
