181 



THE ARTICULATIONS. 



Lateral inclination takes place when the spine bends to one side. This 

 movement is very easily executed in the cervical and coccygeal regions, but is 

 arrested by the ribs and the costiform processes in the dorso-lumbar region. 



A circumflex movement is possible at the two extremities of the vertebral 

 column— neck and tail ; for they pass easily from extension to lateral inclination, 

 and from tliis to flexion, etc. 



Owing to the elasticity of the intervertebral fibro-cartilages, the spine is 

 endowed with a very limited amount of rotation, or rather of torsion. 



For the special study of the movements of each spinal region, reference must 

 be made to what has been already said (,p. U) regarding tlie mobility of this 

 part. 



Fig. 122. 



CERVICAL LIGAMENT OF THE OX. 



L, l', The two laminse which form the cord of the cervical ligament : 1, 2, 3, 4, the four anterior 

 digitations of the cordiform portion. R, Its accessory portion : 5, first dorsal vertebrae ; 6, 6, 6, 

 interspinous ligament of the dorsal region. 



Differential Characters in the Vertebral Articulations and Ligaments in the 



OTHER Animals. 

 A. In the Ox the intervertebral discs are much thicker than in the Horse. The common 

 inferior vertebral ligament is very strong in the lumbar region. The supraspinous dorso-lumhar 

 ligamsnt is composed of yellow elastic tissue. The cervical ligament is much more developed 

 than in Solipeds,in consequence of the greater weight of the head ; and it presents a conforma- 

 tion altogether special, which M. Lecoq has made known in the following terms : " On lenving 

 the withers, the stipra- spinous ligament ceases to cover the head of the spinous processes, and 

 extends from each side in a wide and strong band, taking points of attachment on the sides of 

 the processes, and becoming separated, on leaving that of the first dorsal vertebra, into two 

 parts — a superior and inferior. The first reaches the cervical tuberosity in the form of a thick 

 cord united to the cord of the opposite; the other thins off into a band, which is attached to 

 the posterior half of the spinous process of the axis, and to that of the third and fourth vertebrae. 

 A production of the same kind — an auxiliary to the principal portion — leaves the anterior border 

 of the spinous process of the first dorsal vertebra, and is attached to that of the fourth, fifth, 



