PARTICULAR ARTICULATIONS. 



239 



CHAPTER V. 



OF PARTICULAR ARTICULATIONS. 



The connexion of the Head with the Vertebra. 



THE condyles of the occipital bone, and the corresponding 

 cavities of the atlas, are covered with cartilage. The condyle 

 and cavity on each side are invested with a synovial ligament, 

 as described in the general account of articulations. 



Fig. 51.* 



An anterior ligament, (liga- 

 mentum occipito-atloidal ante- 

 nor,) descends from the front 

 part of the great occipital fora- 

 men, and is inserted into all the 

 front part of the atlas, between 

 its articulating processes. That 

 portion of this ligament which 

 is in the middle, and inserted 

 into the tubercle of the atlas, appears stronger, and is distinct 

 from the rest of it. 



A posterior ligament, (ligamentum occipito-atloidal pos- 

 terior?) passes from the posterior margin of the occipital fora- 

 men to the upper edge of the posterior arch of the atlas. 



From each side of the upper end of the tooth-like process of 

 the vertebra dentata, a ligament (oblique, or moderator?) 

 passes upwards and outwards, to be inserted into the internal 

 side of the basis of each condyle of the occipital bone. There 



* A posterior view of the ligaments connecting the atlas, the axis, and the 

 occipital bone. The posterior part of the occipital bone has been sawn away, 

 and the arches of the atlas and axis removed. 1. The superior part of the 

 occipito-axoid ligament, which has been cut away in order to show the ligaments 

 beneath. 2. The transverse ligaments of the atlas. 3, 4. The ascending and 

 descending slips of the transverse ligament, which have obtained for it the title 

 of cruciform ligament. 5. One of the odontoid or moderator ligaments. 6. One 

 of the occipito-atloid capsular ligaments. 7. One of the atlo-axoid capsular 

 ligaments. 



