THE ABDOMEN. 239 



forwards, receives sorae veins corresponding to arteries 

 given off by its companion YQS,s,Q\,spermaticvein, posterior luni' 

 har veins (anterior Imnhar veins combine to form vena azygos) 

 and renal veins. Of the renal veins, the left is the longest, 

 but the right anteriorly placed, and shortly after receiving 

 this vessel the post vena cava passes through its sjDecial 

 channel in the upper part of the right lobe of the liver. 

 While passing through this it presents the oj^enings, num- 

 erous and varying in size, of the hepatic veins, and on 

 emerging, is surrounded by the coronary ligament in its 

 short course to foramen dextrum, where it receives the 

 plirenic venous sinuses, and then runs straight through the 

 chest, enveloped in a special fold of pleura to the base of the 

 heart. 



On removing the peritoneum from the lateral parts 

 of the upper surface of the abdomen, we find that it 

 simply covers the under surface of the kidneys, from 

 which it is separated by a quantity of fat, unusually 

 firm in consequence of the predominance of stearin in 

 its composition. This is vulgarly named "suet," and 

 by some anatomists has been termed the tunica adiposa 

 renalis. 



The kidneys are the organs which serve to separate urine 

 from the blood. They are two purple-coloured organs 

 situated up against the crura of the diaphragm. The 

 right is most anteriorly placed, and differs from its fellow 

 in being heart-shaped, and resting against the diaphragm, 

 and in a special depression on the upper part of the right 

 lobe of the liver termed the fossa re7ialis. The left kidney 

 is elongated from behind forwards, being shaped like a 

 "kidney-bean." It receives the shortest artery and the 

 longest vein, and lies in contact with the base of the sj^leen 

 and with the left extremity of the stomach. Both kidneys 

 have a prerenal capsule in contact with the anterior part 

 of their inner border which presents a notch or hilum, to 

 which most of the branches of the renal arteries pass, and 

 from which those of the renal vein together with the ureter 

 commence. The anterior part of the kidney is slightly the 

 largest, the outer margin convex, the inner straight, while 

 the under surface is flatter than the upper. The organ is 

 supported by a special stroma {renal capsule) which is con- 

 siderably more abundant in the substance of the organ, 

 investing its vessels, and connecting together its com- 



