306 



THE AETICULATIONS OE JOINTS. 



are associated various important accessory ligaments which bind together laminae, 

 spinous processes, and transverse processes. 



Articulations between Bodies of Vertebrae. These are amphiarthrodial joints. 

 Singly, they present only a slight degree of mobility, but when this amount of move- 

 ment is added to that of the whole series, the range of movement of the vertebral 



Vertebral body 



lutervertebral fibro- 

 cartilage 



Nucleus pulposus 



Ligamentum flavum 



Ligamentura 

 interspinale 



Ligamentum 

 supraspinale 



Spinous process 



FIG. 292. MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH A PORTION OP THE LUMBAR PART OF THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN. 



column becomes considerable. The articular surfaces are the flattened surfaces of 

 adjacent vertebral bodies. They are bound together by the following structures : 

 Fibrocartilagines Intervertebrales (Fig. 292). Each intervertebral fibro- 

 cartilage accommodates itself to the space it occupies between the two vertebral 

 bodies, to both of which it is firmly adherent. The fibro-cartilages, from different 



Anterior longitudinal ligament 

 Rib 



Three slips of the 



radiate ligament 



of the head of the rib 



Anterior costo- 



transverse 



ligament 



FIG. 293. ANTERIOR LONGITUDINAL LIGAMENT OF THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN, AND THE COSTO-VERTEBRAL i 



JOINTS AS SEEN FROM THE FRONT. 



parts of the vertebral column, vary in vertical thickness, being thinnest from the] 

 third to the seventh thoracic vertebra, and thickest in the lumbar region. In theS 

 cervical and lumbar regions each fibro- cartilage is thicker anteriorly than 

 posteriorly, thereby assisting in the production of the anterior convexity which > 

 characterises the vertebral column in these two regions. In the thoracic region 



