PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 13 



arch of bone behind, with a projection in the middle 

 line, so that when united there is a channel through the 

 whole of them, which lodges the spinal cord, passing 

 from the brain. The shape of each bone varies slightly 

 from its fellow, and very much according to the region 

 in which it is placed, so that the width of the column is 

 greatest in the lumbar region, where the bones are 

 larger and deeper. United by fibrous bands or liga- 

 ments, which yet allow of their movement, they form the 

 whole column, which is not straight, but is curved slightly 

 forwards in the neck, backwards in the back, and again 

 forwards in the lumbar region. 



There are twelve ribs on each side of the chest ; each 

 of these articulates with the spinal column behind, and is 

 capable of an upward movement at the joint. The first 

 rib is flattened from above down, and is comparatively 

 short. It passes from the first dorsal vertebra to join the 

 upper part of the breast-bone or sternum, a flattened, 

 sword-shaped bone which completes the chest in front. 

 The other ribs are flattened chiefly from side to side ; six 

 of them are in connection with the sternum in front by 

 means of cartilages which are about two/ inches in length, 

 and in shape exactly like the bony rib. The next three 

 ribs are attached by their cartilages, not directly to the 

 sternum, but to one another; whilst the eleventh and 

 twelfth ribs the latter shorter than the former are quite 



