1048 THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 
distinct ridges, in relation to which are found on each side three peritoneal fossve, 
known as the inguinal pouches or fosse (fovea inguinales). 
The external inguinal fossa (fovea inguinalis lateralis) lies outside the deep epigastric artery, 
and corresponds to the position of the internal abdominal rig. At its bottom is often found 
a dimple-like depression of the peritoneum, indicating the point from which the processus 
vaginalis passed down, in connexion with the descent of the testicle. The middle inguinal fossa 
(fovea inguinalis mesialis) is situated between the deep epigastric and the obliterated hypogastric 
arteries: whilst the internal inguinal fossa (fovea inguinalis interna, fovea supravesicalis) lies 
to the inner side of the obliterated hypogastric artery, namely, between it externally and 
the urachus internally. Seeing that the obliterated hypogastric artery, m passing upwards, 
crosses Hasselbach’s triangle, dividing it into an outer and an inner part, it follows that the 
middle inguinal fossa corresponds to the outer division of the triangle, and the mner fossa to its 
inner division. 
Still another fossa of the peritoneum is seen in this region, just beneath the inner part of 
Poupart’s ligament, corresponding to the position of the femoral or crural ring, and consequently 
known as the femoral or crural fossa (fovea femoralis). It may be added that the vas deferens 
erosses the outer part of this latter fossa, and the obliterated hypogastric artery its inner part. 
The significance of these fosse is pointed out in connection with the applied anatomy of the 
inguinal and femoral regions. 
Near the middle line, above the umbilicus, the peritoneum is carried back from 
the anterior abdominal wall and diaphragm to the parietal surface of the liver in 
the form of a erescentic fold, the 
falciform ligament of the liver 
(ligamentum falciforme hepatis, 
described with the liver), which 
connects the liver to the abdo- 
minal wall. This fold les 
somewhat to the right of the 
middle line, and extends almost 
as low down as the umbilicus. 
It consists of two layers of peri- 
Liver 
Teeser af 48) Small sae 
omentum ia \J | Foramen of 
] ~_ Winslow, with 
arrow passed 
through it 
Stomach 
Pancreas 
eee | Third part of toneum, between which, in the 
Great gugden om lower border of the fold, runs the 
omentum Transverse 
saa round leament of the lver— 
the remains of the umbilical vein 
of the foetus. 
Posterior Layer of the Great 
Sac.—After clothing the anterior 
abdominal wall, in the manner 
just described, the anterior layer 
of the great sac is continued 
back on the under surface of 
the diaphragm, until this latter 
begins to descend behind the 
liver, when it is reflected from 
the diaphragm on to the upper 
| aspect of the liver, and here the 
\ anterior passes into the posterior 
; layer of the great sac. The 
The mesentery 
Small 
intestine 
Uterus 
Rectum 
Bladder. 
Pouch of 
Douglas 
Fic. 
707.—DIAGRAMMATIC MESIAL SECTION OF FEMALE Bopy, 
to show the peritoneum on vertical tracing. The great sac 
of the peritoneum is black and is represented as being 
much larger than in nature ; the small sac is very darkly 
shaded ; the peritoneum in section is shown as a white 
line: and a white arrow is passed through the foramen of 
Winslow from the great, into the small sac. 
posterior layer first clothes the 
upper aspect of the liver, then 
turns round its anterior border, 
and is continued back on the 
under surface as far as the attach- 
ment of the lesser omentum, where 
it quits the liver and passes down, as the anterior layer of the lesser omentum, 
to the lesser curvature of the stomach. 
The line of reflexion from diaphragm to liver is interrupted near the mesial plane by the 
falciform hgament. 
The portion lying to the right of this fold forms the upper layer of the 
coronary ligament ; that to the left of it, the upper layer of the left lateral ligament of the liver. 
The extent to which the peritoneum of the great sac passes back on the under surface of the 
