THE STOMACH. 



1627 



Near mouth 

 of glands 



the gullet and diverge to either side, showing a well-marked border near the lesser 

 curvature. Their posterior expansion is the stronger. The diverging fibres are lost 

 near the pylorus, while in the vicinity of the fundus they mingle with the circular 

 ones that form the whorl. The latter, according to Birmingham, is formed by this 

 layer alone. 



The serous coat corresponds in structure with other portions of the perito- 

 neum, consisting of the endothelium of the free surface, beneath which lies the 

 fibro-elastic stroma attached 

 to the muscular tunic. FlG - X 379- 



Blood-Vessels. The 

 arteries of the stomach, de- 

 rived from the cceliac axis, are 

 arranged in two arches along 

 the lines of attachment of the 

 omenta ; hence that which is 

 attached to the greater cur- 

 vature below passes behind it 

 on the fundus. The arch 

 along the lesser curvature is 

 formed by the gastric ar- 

 tery, which sends an cesopha- 

 geal branch upward to meet 

 the lowest of the cesophageal 

 arteries, and joins the py- 

 loric branch of the hepatic 

 artery below. The arteries 

 of the greater omentum are 

 the right and left gastro-epi- 

 ploic, reinforced behind the 

 fundus by the vasa brevia 

 of the splenic artery. The 

 gastro-epiploicadextra passes 

 down on the right of the first 

 part of the duodenum close 

 to the pylorus ; branches 

 arising on the front at that 

 region may nearly or quite 

 make an arterial ring around 

 the organ. The gastric ar- 

 tery supplies the longer 

 branches to the walls, there 

 being a richer arterial distri- 

 bution on the back than on 

 the front and at the cardiac 

 than at the pyloric end. The 

 general plan is as follows : on 

 the anterior surface several 

 arteries, of which some four 

 are large ones, run from the 

 lesser curvature across the 



Oblique section of mucous membrane from pyloric end of stomach, show- 

 ing glands cut at various levels. X 100. 



stomach, sending out successive lateral branches to inosculate with those from their 

 fellows ; finally, the main vessel breaks up into branches that meet those from the 

 greater curvature. On the posterior surface the chief trunks divide with less regu- 

 larity. At first the arteries are just beneath the peritoneum, between the folds of 

 which they gain the stomach ; presently they enter and pierce the muscular coat, the 

 outer parts of which are supplied during their passage. On reaching the submucous 

 coat the 'arteries, now reduced, but still of considerable size, divide into smaller 

 branches, some of which pass to the muscular tunic, while the majority enter the 

 mucous coat. The latter, soon break up into capillaries which surround the gland- 



