40 PROFESSOR A. BIRMINGHAM. 



described as lying against the oesophageal groove and the left 

 lateral ligament of the liver in front, but it never actually conies 

 in contact with the latter of these structures, which is attached 

 to the upper surface of the left lobe of the liver by one edge, 

 and to the diaphragm, over an inch in front of the oesophagus, by 

 the other. As regards the former, the oesophageal groove of the 

 liver is generally occupied by the prominent right margin of the- 

 oesophageal orifice in the diaphragm, which possibly is so strongly 

 developed and so prominent in order to bear the pressure of the- 

 liver off the tube, which otherwise would be interfered with in 

 its dilatation during the passage of food. When the stomach is 

 distended, this abdominal part of the oesophagus practically 

 disappears, being absorbed, as it were, into the stomach in its 

 enlargement. Or possibly, indeed, it is in most cases an artificial 

 production due to the traction on the empty stomach (generally 

 necessary to demonstrate it) pulling a part of the oesophagus 

 from its lax diaphragmatic moorings down into the abdominal 

 cavity. 



Abdomen. 



S'uhdivisions of the abdominal cavity. — It seems to me that 

 the lines adopted by Cunningham for the subdivision of the 

 abdominal cavity, with the exception of the mid-Poupart line,, 

 are the most satisfactory. The mid-Poupart line gives a 

 lateral region which is, particularly in the female, entirely 

 too narrow. A much more satisfactory division of the mesial 

 from the lateral portion of the abdomen can be made by a 

 ' Poupart line ' drawn vertically upwards from a point on 

 Poupart's ligament half way between the anterior superior spine 

 of the ilium and the symphysis pubis. This gives a lumbar 

 region of nearly the same width as the right or left half of the 

 umbilical region. 



■'&•' 



The Stomach. 



The natural form of the stomach. — As seen in male bodies, the- 

 viscera of which have been hardened by the intravascular 

 injection of formalin, the em-pty stomach is of an attenuated or 

 slender pear shape, generally flattened from above downwards,. 



