THE FORM OF THE STOMACH IN HUMAN EMBRYOS 



WITH NOTES UPON THE NOMENCLATURE 



OF THE STOMACH 



FREDERIC T. LEWIS 

 Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 



TWELVE FIGURES 



X-ray examinations of the stomach, in adults and especially in 

 children, have led clinicians to inquire whether the stomach has 

 a characteristic embryonic form which may sometimes persist. 

 Figures of the typical embryonic stomach have, indeed, been pub- 

 lished; but it must be remembered that the stomach changes in 

 shape as the embryo grows older and, as Broman has found, its 

 individual variations in embryos of the same stage of develop- 

 ment is very great. Nevertheless certain fundamental sub- 

 divisions are strikingly distinct. These primary subdivisions, in 

 which the embryologist is most interested, were keenly discussed 

 by the early anatomists. In their writings many suggestive 

 questions are raised, at the same time that the fundamental 

 features of the organ are successively recognized and defined. 

 In the following historical notes, taken from such works as are 

 at hand, provisional definitions are offered for certain terms 

 adopted at Basle but at present loosely employed, and attention is 

 called to the features of the adult stomach which will be examined 

 in the embryos. 



The human stomach was first considered to be a simple sac 

 with an orifice of entrance above and to the left, and an orifice 

 of exit below and to the right. Vesalius (1543) in his figures 

 designates the orifices as the 'superius ventriculi orificium' and 

 'inferius ventriculi orificium,' respectively. In his text, however, 

 both are said to be placed superiorly, so that food shall not escape 

 by its own weight, but when completely changed to chyme, shall 



477 



THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ANATOMY, VOL. 13. NO. 4 



