Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s2.t4.4

c7.s2.t4.4

vertebrae. The two composite bones are the sacrum or sacral bone, and the coccyx or anal (caudal) bone (Fig. 18). Either of these consists of five vertebrae fused together, and hence known as the false vertebrae. It is to be noted, however, that the first sacral vertebra is of a transitional and partly lumbar character, and occasionally remains permanently separate.¹ It is this fact which appears to have caused Suśruta to count six lumbar vertebrae.