1870 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



or ureter, which also emerges at the hilum. The interspaces between these structures 

 are filled with loose areolar tissue, in which lie accumulations of fat continuous with 

 the perirenal tunica adiposa. 



Position. — The kidneys lie behind the peritoneum, embedded within the sub- 

 peritoneal tissue, so placed against the side of the vertebral column and the posterior 

 abdominal wall that they occupy an oblique plane, their anterior surfaces looking 

 forward and outward. The long axes of the organs are not parallel, but oblique to 

 the spine, in consequence of which disposition the upper ends of the two organs are 

 closer (8.5 cm.) than the lower extremities (11 cm.}, the planes of the inner margins 



Hepatic veins 



Fig. 1 591. 



Right suprarenal 

 body 



Vena cava4 "T- 

 Right renal vein 



Right kidney. 

 Right ureter 



Right spermatic- 

 vein 



Right spermatic 

 artery 



Psoas magnus — ■- 



Ureter— l\i. 



External iliac — 



artery 



Vas deferens 

 Spermatic cord 



Cceliac axis 



Superior mesenteric artery- 

 Left suprarenal 

 body 



Left renal vein 



Left kidney 

 Left renal artery 



Inferior mesen- 

 teric artery 

 Left ureter 



Quadratus 

 lumborum 



Left spermatic 

 artery 



Common iliac 

 artery 



Common iliac 

 vein 



Psoas magnus 



Left ureter, 

 pelvic portion 



Rectum (cut) 



Vas deferens 



Madder 



Dissection of abdomen, showing kidneys in position and course and relations of ureters. 



being anterio'' to those of the external. The greater part of both ki4neys lies within 

 the epigastric region, but their outer margins reach within the hypochondriac areas 

 and their lower ends ordinarily encroach to a limited and variable extent upon the 

 umbilical and lumbar regions. The intersection of the plane of the transverse infra- 

 costal line and that of the vertical Poupart line usually passes through the lower pole 

 of the kidney, falling, as a rule, somewhat higher in the right than in the left organ. 

 Approximately the kidneys may be said to lie opposite the last thoracic and the 

 upper two lumbar vertebrae, reaching to within from 2.5-3.5 cm. (i-i}4 in.) of the 

 highest part of the iliac crest. The exact level of the kidneys, however, is subject 



