44 ON DORSO-LUMBAR SPRAIN IN THE HORSE. 
After maceration, we perceive the inferior surface of the 
bodies of these vertebrae to be most commonly perfectly smooth 
or else roughened; sometimes, however, they present enlarge¬ 
ments more or less voluminous, and always, in this case, con¬ 
tiguous to an articulation, though the articulatory surfaces 
themselves (head and cavity), which have the appearance of 
being lower down, are ordinarily in this normal condition. 
There are, indeed, some cases in which the trace of articulation 
of the vertebrae by their bodies has, so far as outward ap¬ 
pearance goes, completely disappeared. 
In all cases, therefore, there exists less mobility than in the 
normal slate, but more power of resistance, since there is all 
the difference between an inflexible column and a jointed one. 
In other subjects, ossification is not confined to the bodies of 
the vertebrae; we see it extending around the articular and 
spinous processes, &c. I am in possession of a spine—of 
which I shall have reason to speak hereafter—wherein all the 
spinous processes of the withers are a mass of ossification. 
The transverse processes of the last two of the lumbar 
vertebrae are likewise frequently ossified together, as well as 
the last two ribs. 
As to the sacro-lumbar articulation, Rigol doubts very much, 
in admitted contradiction to the general opinion, that the 
sacrum and the lumbar vertebrae can become ossified together; 
and the reason he gives for this opinion is, first, that the 
mobility of this joint appears indispensable to the solidity of 
the spine, and its power of resistance in the impulsion of the 
hind limbs; and, secondly, from having inspected a great 
number of carcasses without meeting with either an accidental 
or permanent anchylosis of the kind, even when all the other 
lumbar vertebrae have been joined together by osseous deposit. 
Pagnier, however, says he lias seen, on several occasions, the 
six lumbar vertebrae and the sacrum ossified together by their 
transverse processes and bodies, so that the whole had the 
appearance of a single bone. 
For my own part, I have never seen ossification so complete 
as this. But I now hold in m v hand part of the skeleton of an 
English stallion, thorough-bred, in which the sacrum is com¬ 
pletely united with the transverse process of the last lumbar 
vertebra on the left side only; whilst the corresponding arti¬ 
culation on the right, side, those of the articular processes, and 
that of the body, are perfectly normal. So that, evidently, 
ossification of this articulation is possible, but it is exceedingly 
rare. 
2. Lesions of the Articulations. —We are not to sup¬ 
pose that, in every case in which there is considerable osseous 
deposit surrounding the bodies of the vertebra?, there exists 
any thing beyond spurious anchylosis of the vertebral column, 
any true anchylosis or osseous adhesion between the articular 
