STRUCTURE OF THE STOMACH 



343 



The muscular coat consists of three separate layers of fibers which, accord- 

 ing to their several directions, are named the longitudinal, circular, and 

 oblique. The longitudinal set are the most superficial and are continuous 

 with the longitudinal fibers of the esophagus and spread out in a diverging 



manner over the cardiac end and sides of 

 the stomach to the pylorus. The circular 

 or transverse coat more or less completely 

 encircles all parts of the stomach; this 

 coat is thickest at the middle and in the 

 pyloric portion of the organ, and forms 

 the chief part of the thick ring of the 

 pylorus. The next and consequently 

 deepest coat, the oblique, is continuous 

 with the circular muscular fibers of the 



FIG. 254. 



FIG. 255. 



FIG. 254. From a Vertical Section through the Mucous Membrane of the Cardiac End 

 of Stomach. Two peptic glands are shown with a duct common to both, one gland only in 

 part, a, Duct with columnar epithelium becoming shorter as the cells are traced down- 

 ward; n, neck of gland tubes, with central and parietal or so-called peptic cells; h, fundus 

 with curved cecal extremity the parietal cells are not so numerous here. X 400. (Klein 

 and Noble Smith.) 



FIG. 255. Cross-sections at Various Levels of Peptic Glands of Stomach. X 400. 

 M, Section through gastric pit near surface; M', section through gastric pit near bottom; 

 h, mouth of gland; k, neck; g, body near fundus; the chief cells are shaded lightly; b, parietal 

 cells. (Kolliker.) 



esophagus at the cardiac orifice of the stomach. This coat is quite inter- 

 rupted and more or less incomplete. The muscular fibers of the stomach 

 and intestinal canal are unstriated. 



