284 



SYNDESMOLOGY 



CLASSIFICATION OF JOINTS. 



The articulations are divided into three classes: synarthroses or immovable, 

 amphiarthroses or slightly movable, and diarthroses or freely movable, joints. 



Synarthroses (immovable articulations'). Synarthroses include all those articu- 

 lations in which the surfaces of the bones are in almost direct contact, fastened 

 together by intervening connective tissue or hyaline cartilage, and in which there 

 is no appreciable motion, as in the joints between the bones of the skull, excepting 

 those of the mandible. There are four varieties of synarthrosis : sutura, schindylesis, 

 gomphosis, and synchondrosis. 



Sutura.- Sutura is that form of articulation where the contiguous margins of the 

 bones are united by a thin layer of fibrous tissue; it is met with only in the skull 

 (Fig. 296) . When the margins of the bones are connected by a series of processes, 

 and indentations interlocked together, the articulation is termed a true suture 

 (sutura vera); and of this there are three varieties: sutura dentata, serrata, and 

 limbosa. The margins of the bones are not in direct contact, being separated by a 

 thin layer of fibrous tissue, continuous externally with the pericranium, internally 

 with the dura mater. The sutura dentata is so called from the tooth-like form of 

 the projecting processes, as in the suture between the parietal bones. In the 



Periosteum 



Sutural ligament 



Cartilage 



FIG. 296. Section across the sagittal suture. 



Perichandrium 



Periosteum 



FIG. 297. Section through occipitosphenoid synchon- 

 drosis of an infant. 



sutura serrata the edges of the bones are serrated like the teeth of a fine saw, as 

 between the two portions of the frontal bone. In the sutura limbosa, there is besides 

 the interlocking, a certain degree of bevelling of the articular surfaces, so that the 

 bones overlap one another, as in the suture between the parietal and frontal bones. 

 When the articulation is formed by roughened surfaces placed in apposition with 

 one another, it is termed a false suture (sutura notha), of which there are two kinds: 

 the sutura squamosa, formed by the overlapping of contiguous bones by broad 

 bevelled margins, as in the squamosal suture between the temporal and parietal, 

 and the sutura harmonia, where there is simple apposition of contiguous rough 

 surfaces, as in the articulation between the maxillae, or between the horizontal 

 parts of the palatine bones. 



Schindylesis. Schindylesis is that form of articulation in which a thin plate 

 of bone is received into a cleft or fissure formed by the separation of two laminae in 

 another bone, as in the articulation of the rostrum of the sphenoid and perpendicular 

 plate of the ethmoid with the vomer, or in the reception of the latter in the fissure 

 between the maxillae and between the palatine bones. 



Gomphosis. Gomphosis is articulation by the insertion of a conical process into 

 a socket; this is not illustrated by any articulation between bones, properly so 

 called, but is seen in the articulations of the roots of the teeth with the alveoli 

 of the mandible and maxillae. 



Synchondrosis. Where the connecting medium is cartilage the joint is termed 

 a synchondrosis (Fig. 297). This is a temporary form of joint, for the cartilage 

 is converted into bone before adult life. Such joints are found between the 

 epiphyses and bodies of long bones, between the occipital and the sphenoid at, 

 and for some years after, birth, and between the petrous portion of the temporal 

 and the jugular process of the occipital. 



