588 



Anatomy , Physiology, and Pathology of the 



spine above by moveable joints, and to the sternum below by means 

 of their cartilages. The inferior attachment is not, however, in all 

 of them directly to the sternum, some being joined by their carti- 

 lages to each other, and thus indirectly to that bone ; hence their 

 division into sternal, or true, and asternal, or false ribs. [In the 

 sketch the hindermost rib is a false one.] Each rib articulates by 

 its rounded head and tubercle, marked b, with corresponding hol- 

 lows in the vertebrae, marked a, forming the moveable joints al- 

 luded to : these distinct articulations by the head and tubercle are, 

 however, less perfect as we proceed from before backwards. That 

 every facility may be given to the movements of the chest while 

 the ox is recumbent — a position, as is well known, he frequently 

 assumes during rumination— the attachment of the ribs to the 

 sternum, as well as the development of that bone, differ consider- 

 ably from the horse. These peculiarities, which we are about to 



Fig. 9. 



a. The cavities in the vertebra which receive b. The head and tubercle of the rib. c. The 

 surfaces of the synovial ioint uniting the rib to the cartilage. d. The ieint formed by the 

 cartilage and sternum. 



