Spinal debility, its prevention, pathology and cure, in relation to curvatures, paralysis, epilepsy, and various deformities / by Edward W. Tuson.

Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Spinal debility, its prevention, pathology and cure, in relation to curvatures, paralysis, epilepsy, and various deformities / by Edward W. Tuson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    24/180 (page 8)
    inter-vertebral substances has been estimated as one-fourth of that of the vertebral column,* so that they constitute a material part in the forma- tion of that pillar, which has to maintain the weight of all the parts of the upper portion of the body, so as to constitute the chief support of the whole frame. Between the arches of the vertebrae, at the back part of the spine, there are placed the Ligamenta Subflava, each one consisting of two thin plates of elastic tissue. These counteract, by their elasticity, the efforts of the flexor muscles of the spine, and by preserving the upright position of the trunk, limit the expenditure of muscular force. Now, as these ligaments are most highly elastic, they serve the same purpose, at the back part of the spine, as the inter-vertebral substances do in the front, thus should the inter-vertebral substances become of a yielding nature, and lose their elasticity, these ligaments would either participate in the morbid condition, or tend, by their natural elasticity, to diminish the length of the spinal column, so that these ligaments form a most important part in the structural formation of the chief pillar that supports the whole body. Their structure must, therefore, be materially affected in any derangement or disease of the spinal column. All the parts will necessarily be more or less affected under any debilitated condition of the vertebrae. The inter-vertebral substance, by breaking shocks, to which the spinal column is subject, and also lessening the force of * Wilson’s Anatomist, VadeMecum, page 124,