564 THE STOMACH. 



above the posterior termination of the inferior turbinated bone, is the 

 irregular depression in the mucous membrane, marking the entrance of 

 the Eustachian tube. Beneath the posterior nares is the large opening 

 into the mouth, partly veiled by the soft palate ; and, beneath the root 

 of the tongue, the cordiform opening of the larynx. The cesophageal 

 opening is the lower constricted portion of the pharynx. 



(Esophagus. The oesophagus (a'/iiv, to bear, 0y/v, to eat), is a 

 slightly flexuous canal, inclining to the left in the neck, to the right 

 in the upper part of the thorax,* and again to the left in its course 

 through the posterior mediastinum ; it commences at the termination 

 of the pharynx, opposite the lower border of the cricoid cartilage and 

 fifth cervical vertebra, and descends the neck -behind and rather to the 

 left of the trachea. It then passes behind the arch of the aorta, and 

 along the posterior mediastinum, lying in front of the thoracic aorta, 

 to the oesophageal opening in the diaphragm, where it enters the ab- 

 domen, and terminates at the cardiac orifice of the stomach at a point 

 about opposite the tenth dorsal vertebra. The oesophagus is flattened 

 and narrow in the cervical region, and cylindrical in the rest of its 

 course ; its largest diameter is met with near the lower part of its 

 course. 



THE STOMACH. 



The stomach is an expansion of the alimentary canal, situated in the 

 left hypochondriac, and extending into the epigastric region. It is 

 directed somewhat obliquely from above downwards, from left to right, 

 and from before backwards ; and in the female, where the injurious sys- 

 tem of tight-lacing has been pursued, is longer than in the male. On 

 account of the peculiarity of its form, it is divided into a greater or 

 splenic, and a lesser or pyloric, end; a lesser curvature above, and 

 a greater curvature below ; an anterior and a posterior surface ; a 

 cardiac orifice., and a pyloric orifice. The great end is not only of 

 large size, but expands beyond the point of entrance of the oesophagus, 

 and is embraced by the concave surface of the spleen. The pylorus is 

 the small and contracted extremity of the organ ; near its extremity 

 is a small dilatation which was called by Willis the antrum of the py- 

 lorus. The two curvatures give attachment to the peritoneum ; the 

 upper curve to the lesser omen turn, and the lower to the greater omen - 

 turn. The anterior surface looks upwards and forwards, and is in re- 

 lation with the diaphragm, which separates it from the viscera of the 

 thorax and from the six lower ribs, with the left lobe of the liver, and in 

 the epigastric region, with the abdominal parietes. The posterior sur- 

 face looks downwards and backwards, and is in relation with the dia- 

 phragm, the pancreas, the third portion of the duodenum, the trans- 

 verse meso colon, the left kidney, and left supra-renal capsule ; this sur- 



* Cruveilhier remarks that this inflexion explains the obstruction which a 

 bougie sometimes meets with in its passage along the oesophagus opposite the 

 first rib. 



