Prominent vertebra

The seventh, or prominent vertebra [vertebra prominens], approaches in its characters to those of the dorsal region; its spinous process terminates in a tubercle, and is so long as to be, in the natural condition, felt underneath the skin; whilst the other cervical spines lie more deeply, and are covered by muscles; hence the term "prominent," so commonly applied to this vertebra. The transverse process, though pierced by a foramen, [which most usually is too small to permit the vertebral vessels to pass through it,] presents but a slight appearance of a groove on its upper surface, and seldom more than a trace of a bifurcation at its extremity.