SUPERFICIAL EXAMINATION 7 



The outline of the wing of the atlas should be noted with care, since 

 it not infrequently occurs that a small portion of the bone is chipped off, 

 is displaced, and ultimately leads to the formation of a sinus of the poll, 

 i.e., " poll-evil." Familiarity therefore with the normal outline will 

 materially assist in detecting displacement of even a small particle ot 

 bone. 



The upper part of the lateral aspect of the neck is somewhat 

 flattened, and is made up of muscular layers applied with their flat 

 surfaces directed towards the lamellar portion of ligamentum nuchae 

 which is placed in the median line. The lower half, however, presents 

 several points of surgical importance. First, the position and direction 

 of the series of cervical vertebra should be noticed, and it should be 

 observed by comparison with a well-mounted skeleton that a line drawn 

 in the direction of the vertebra is much more oblique than one drawn 

 in the direction of the middle line of the neck, since the bones run from 

 the antero-superior to near the postero-inferior extremity ot the neck. 

 This should be remembered in dealing with cases of fracture of the 

 cervical vertebra or their processes. The animal should be made to 

 turn its head alternately to the right and left, and this will bring 

 the oblique and transverse processes of the vertebra^ into greater 

 prominence. 



Inferiorly to the thickened portion of the neck which corresponds to 

 the position of the cervical vertebra we observe a well-marked groove, 

 which extends in the longitudinal direction from the upper extremity of 

 the neck and terminates inferiorly between the shoulder and the front of 

 the chest. This groove is the jugular furrow or channel, and is so 

 named since it lodges the jugular vein. The furrow is bounded 

 superiorly by the inferior border of the mastoido-humeralis muscle, and 

 inferiorly by the upper edge of the sterno-maxillaris. It is of consider- 

 able surgical importance, since it is the seat of phlebotomy of the jugular 

 vein, oesophagotomy, and other operations. The course of the jugular 

 vein down the furrow may be made very evident by the application of 



