Morphological and metrical variation in skulls from San Miguel Island, California : II. The foramen magnum: shape, size, correlations / by Bruno Oetteking.

  • Oetteking, Bruno, 1871-
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Morphological and metrical variation in skulls from San Miguel Island, California : II. The foramen magnum: shape, size, correlations / by Bruno Oetteking. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the lumbar region. It appears, however, that the pulpous nuclei of the intervertebral fibro- cartilages had remained free from ossification, so that after death these organic parts de¬ cayed, leaving intervertebral spaces in their places, as may be observed through the inter¬ vertebral foramina and through the fissures on the left side between thoracic vertebrae vii, viii, and IX, and between thoracic vertebra xii and lumbar vertebra i. The fissures are clearly shown in fig. ii. The ossified ligamentum longitudinale anterius can likewise easily be identified there, extending midventrally between the osseous bolsters into which the intervertebral fibrocartilages have degenerated. Still more substantially ossified is the joint between the last lumbar and the first sacral vertebra, which in fact does not leave the slightest indication of demarcation between the vertebral bodies which here and in the corresponding places run trans¬ versely midway through the aforenamed bolsters, as shown by the broken lines in fig. ii. Solidly merged in each case also are the articular processes of all the adjacent vertebrae, while the spinous processes are free from osteo- phytic degeneration and fusion, except those of the last lumbar and first sacral vertebrae, which are completely fused, including the intermittent [55]