Hooper, Robert [Editor]: The Anatomist's Vade-Mecum: Containing The Anatomy, Physiology, Morbid Appearances, &c. Of The Human Body ; The Art of making Anatomical Preparations, &c. To which are added Anatomical, Physiological, Medical, And Surgical Examinations For Students (London, 1811)

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the first vertebra by the capsular ligament, surrounding its
condyles ; a ligamentous membrane which goes from the an-
terior and posterior arch of the atlas to the occipital bone; a
ligament passing from the odontoid process to the occipital
bone, called the perpendicular ligament; the latera! ligaments,
which arise from each side of the dentatus, and are inserted
into the occiput before the condyles; the circular ligament,
which arises from the edge of the spinal hole, and is inserted
into the edge of the foramen magnum, and the ligamentum
nuchas.

Vertebra:.—-The vertebra are connected together by
means of their bodies and oblique processes ; the bodies, by
a soft cartilaginous substance, and the processes by ligaments,
viz.

1st. The transverse ligament of the first vertebra, which
passes behind ihe odontoid process of the second vertebra,
and thus retains it in its proper situation.

When this transverse ligament is ruptured or absorbed
by pressure, the odontoid process presses on the me-
dulla spinalis. In the first case, death is the immedi-
ate consequence ; in the latter, a paralysis gradually
takes piace ; and if the bones do not anchykse, it at
length termmates fatally.

2d. The interspinous, which passes between the spinous
processes.

3d. The intertransverse, which proceed from one trans-
verse process to another.

4th. An external and internal ligament common to all the
vertebrae, extending in a longitudinal direction from the fore-
part of the body of the second vertebra of the neck over all
the other vertebrae, and becoming broader as it descends to-
wards the os sacrum, where it becomes thinner, and gradually
disappears. This external longitudinal ligament is strength-