509 



4) In direction, the body of the pancreas in the foetus is quite 

 variable, ascending, ascending-horizontal, ascending-descending and 

 horizontal types being distinguished. These types occur also in the 

 adult, but in different proportions, a tendency toward the ascending 

 type prevailing in the foetus and toward the horizontal form in the 

 adult. The direction of the inner half of the body of the pancreas 

 is correlated with the position of the duodeno-jejunal flexure, and 

 that of the outer half of the body with the position of the splenic 

 flexure of the colon, 



5) In the earlier stages of development the body of the pancreas 

 appears somewhat flattened in form, with anterior and posterior sur- 

 faces. The inferior surface develops through contact with the under- 

 lying intestines in the third month, the inner portion appearing first, 

 the outer slightly later. From the third month onward the body of 

 the pancreas is (wholly or partly) prismatic in 90 % of all cases. 

 Distension of the stomach, when the intestines are simultaneously 

 distended, does not obliterate the inferior surface of the pancreatic 

 body, but tends rather to flatten it from above downwards. When 

 the intestines are empty, however, distension of the stomach flattens 

 the body of the pancreas dorso-ventrally, obliterating the inferior sur- 

 face, but only in the outer half, 



6) The area on the inner part of the anterior surface of the 

 body (and neck) of the pancreas in contact with the processus pa- 

 pillaris of the Hver varies greatly in different individuals, and also 

 according to the age of the foetus. The processus papillaris first 

 reaches the pancreas in the latter part of the second month. At its 

 period of maximum development (about the fifth or sixth foetal month) 

 it covers the larger portion of the inner half of the pancreatic body, 

 together with the neck and a portion of the head. Later it retracts, 

 but is usually still in contact with the pancreas to a greater or less 

 extent at birth. 



7) The posterior surface of the pancreatic body in the foetus is 

 in contact with the suprarenal body. In the early stages, however 

 (seventh to tenth weeks), it usually touches the kidney below the 

 suprarenal body. In about half of the foetuses from the eighth month 

 onward, it again begins to come in contact with the kidney. This 

 contact first appears at the lower part of the outer extremity of the 

 pancreas. 



8) In the great majority of foetuses from the fourth month 

 onwards a peritoneal pocket of variable form and extent from the 

 lesser sac extends backward above the splenic flexure of the colon. 



