1782 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



Diaphrag! 



(cut) 



Spleen 



I lumbar 

 vertebra 



outline of this surface is that of a lozenge enclosed by an anterior and a posterior 

 border, one point being above and behind, the other below and in front. Thus in 

 the main the long axis corresponds to the course of the lower ribs, which sometimes 

 make impressions on this con\'ex surface. The anterior border, formerly the margo 

 crenatus, separating this surface from the gastric, is sharp, especially below. It 

 shows one or more notches in 93 per cent.' of the cases. They are most com- 

 mon in the lower part of the border, which is sometimes quite scalloped. T'Sx^ pos- 

 terior border, formerly the margo obtiisiis, separating the phrenic surface from the 

 renal, is much less prominent. Parsons found notches in it in 32 per cent. ; but the 

 general appearance of this border is very different from the preceding, being in the 

 main solid and uniform. The phrenic surface occasionally ( 20 per cent. ) presents a 

 sharp fissure, rarely more than one. It usually starts from a notch in the posterior 

 border and runs some distance across this surface, forward and upward. Less fre- 

 quently it starts from the 

 Fig. 1504. anterior border, or lies en- 



tirely in the convexity, 

 reaching neither border. 



The renal surface, 

 facing inward, does not 

 extend so high as the pre- 

 ceding. It is enclosed by 

 the posterior border, the 

 internal or intermediate 

 border, which separates it 

 from the gastric surface, 

 and by one side of the ba- 

 sal surface. In the upper 

 third this surface is nearly 

 plane, resting against the 

 suprarenal capsule, and in 

 the lower two-thirds dis- 

 tinctly concave, where it is 

 moulded over the upper 

 part of the left kidney. 

 The end of the pancreas, 

 if that organ be short, may 

 rest against the anterior 

 part of this surface. 



The gastric surface, 

 considerably larger than 

 the preceding, is bounded 

 by the intermediate and 

 anterior borders and, be- 

 low, by another side of 

 the base. It is concave, 

 being for the most part moulded over the stomach. It contains the hiltim, a fissure 

 some inch and a half long, running parallel to the intermediate border and about 

 one-half inch distant from it, which receives the vessels. The part of this surface 

 which is not against the stomach is at the lower end, and rests against the splenic 

 flexure of the colon. In some cases, when the stomach is contracted and the colon 

 distended, the relative areas of the two may be reversed. Moreover, the omentum 

 may reach the spleen between them. The tail of the pancreas may touch the right 

 part of this surface or, if long, lie against the spleen just above the colon. 



The basal surface is a triangular area, much smaller than the other surfaces. 

 It is enclosed by the lower part of the posterior border of the spleen and by two lines 

 diverging from the lower end of the intermediate border. One of these separates 

 the basal surface from the gastric and the other from the renal surface. One or both 

 of these lines may be so rudimentary that the base may seem a part of either the 



^ Parsons: Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. xxxv., 1901. 



IX 



(cut) 



Spleu 

 flexure 

 colon 

 XI 



Left kidney 



Descend 

 colon 



Parietal pei 

 toneuni, pos- 

 terior aspect 



Iliac crest- 



Ill lumbar 

 vertebra 



Psoas 

 niagnus 



Postero-lateral wall of formalin subject has been removed to show relations of 



spleen hardened /;/ situ. 



