THE FORM OF THE HUMAN STOMACH 493 



In the same way that the gastric canal accords with the ' oesoph- 

 ageal sulcus' of ruminants, which is described by comparative 

 anatomists as a continuation of the oesophagus open on one side, 

 the cardiac antrum may correspond to the 'atrium ventriculi.' 

 This, according to Ellenberger and Baum is "a, dome-shaped 

 swelling on the dorsal side of the reticulum and thoracic end of the 

 rumen, which is only indistinctly marked off from them by a 

 shallow groove; ventrally its cavity passes directly into that of 

 the reticulum, and caudo-ventrally into the vestibule of the rumen; 

 toward the thorax it rests against the diaphragm near the hiatus 

 oesophageus." From the general 'atrium' seen in figure 5, the 

 lower part is set off as the gastric canal, and the upper part 

 remains as the cardiac antrum (figs. 8 and 9). From studies of 

 the adult stomach it may be assumed that the cardia is at the 

 base of this antrum, which therefore belongs with the oesophagus. 



The development of the fundus of the stomach has been 

 described by Broman (1911) as follows: 



By the beginning of the second month the cranial part of the greater 

 curvature begins to bulge out. But not until the third month, or later, 

 is this outpocketing generally directed so strongly craniad that its blind 

 end comes to lie above the orifice of the oesophagus. Only from this 

 time, therefore, can we speak of a distinct gastric fundus (pp. 326-328). 



Similarly Keith and Jones state that the outgrowth is best 

 marked in embryos of the third and fourth month. But as shown 

 in figures 8 and 9, and by the fact that Toldt, in an embryo of 48 

 mm., found a well marked fundus projecting toward the concavity 

 of the diaphragm, it is clear that the fundus may be well devel- 

 oped in the second month. In the model shown in figure 9, the 

 fundus when seen from above, presents a curious appearance, 

 since seven prominent ridges converge toward its apex. Two of 

 them come from the cardiac antrum, sweeping in a semicircular 

 curve beneath the cardiac incisure, thus resembling the ridges seen 

 in figure 8. There is normally no boundary between the fundus 

 and corpus, but in an abnormal embryo of 18.5 mm., described 

 by Broman, the fundus is cut off by a rather deep constriction. 

 Broman states that this specimen suggests an hour-glass stomach, 

 from which, however, it is essentially different, since the oesopha- 



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



