

THE CERVICAL VERTEBRA 



101 



of the odontoid process is more compact than that of the body. The pedicles 

 are broad and strong, especially in front, where they coalesce with the sides of 

 the body and the root of the odontoid process. They are covered above by the 

 superior articular surfaces. The laminae are thick and strong, and the vertebral 



Odontoid process 



Rough surface for alar ligament 

 Groove for transverse atlantal ligament 



Spinous process 



Articular facet for 

 anterior arch of atlas 



Body 



Transverse process 

 Inferior articular process 



FIG. 88. Second cervical vertebra, epistropheus, or axis, from the side. 



Post, root 





foramen large, but smaller than that of the atlas. The transverse processes are 

 very small, and each ends in a single tubercle; each is perforated by the foramen 

 transversarium, which is directed obliquely upward and lateralward. The superior 

 articular surfaces are round, slightly convex, directed upward and lateralward, 

 and are supported on the body, 



pedicles, and transverse processes. Body 



The inferior articular surfaces have 

 the same direction as those of the 

 other cervical vertebrae. The supe- 

 rior vertebral notches are very shal- 

 low, and lie behind the articular 

 processes; the inferior lie in front 

 of the articular processes, as in the 

 other cervical vertebras. The spinous 

 process is large, very strong, deeply 

 channelled on its under surface, 

 and presents a bifid, tuberculated 

 extremity. 



The Seventh Cervical Vertebra 

 (Fig. 89). The most distinctive 

 characteristic of this vertebra is 

 the existence of a long and promi- 

 nent spinous process, hence the 

 name vertebra prominens. This pro- 

 cess is thick, nearly horizontal in 

 direction, not bifurcated, but ter- 

 minating in a tubercle to which the lower end of the ligamentum nucha? is 

 attached. The transverse processes are of considerable size, their posterior roots 

 are large and prominent, while the anterior are small and faintly marked; the 

 upper surface of each has usually a shallow sulcus for the eighth spinal nerve, 

 and its extremity seldom presents more than a trace of bifurcation. The foramen 



Spinous process 

 Fio. 89. Seventh cervical vertebra. 



