The dissector's manual / by John F. South.

  • South, John Flint, 1797-1882.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dissector's manual / by John F. South. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    a smooth surface on the front of their roots, over which the ver- tebral artery passes to enter into the holes in the transverse processes of the sixth ; and the spinous process not bifid but longer and slightly hooked downwards like the dorsal. Among the dorsal vertebrae, the first, tenth, eleventh and twelfth differ from the others. The first has a whole articular surface on each side of the body for the heads of the first pair of ribs, besides the half surfaces for the second pair. The tenth, eleventh and twelfth have whole articular sur- faces for the three lowest pairs of ribs; the transverse pro- cesses diminish gradually in size, so that those of the twelfth are the smallest, and those processes of the eleventh and twelfth have no articular surfaces upon them: the twelfth is further distinguished by having its inferior articular processes convex laterally and facing forwards and outwards. Among the lumbar vertebra, thefifth differs in having the lower surface oblique instead of flat, so that the anterior edge of the body is much deeper than the posterior; and the spinous process is much hooked downwards. General Remarks on the Spine. The vertebrae when articulated together form the Spine or Vertebral Column, which measures about one-third of the total height of the body, the other two-thirds being made up of the head, pelvis and lower extremities. And with regard to the proportions which the different divisions of the Spine bear to each other, the dorsal division will be found to be about two inches shorter than the cervical and lumbar divi- sions taken together. When viewed in front, the Spine ap- pears of a pyramidal figure, the base of it resting, upon the sacrum, and the apex supporting the head : but the apex is not the most tapering part; the bodies of the vertebrae gradu- ally diminish in size from the last lumbar up to the fourth or fifth dorsal, and from that they begin to enlarge up to the last cervical, from which again they diminish to the second cer- vical, which is very large in comparison with the four vertebne immediately below it; and above that, the transverse pro- cesses of the first vertebra are seen much expanded beyond those of the other cervical vertebrae. With respect to the diminution of size in the middle of the dorsal vertebrae, it is probably intended to give room for the important viscera contained in the Thorax, of which they form a large part of the posterior boundary; and to this end some anatomists have