THE STOMACH. 25 



places, along which the vessels run that furnish the stomach. 

 The peritoneal coat is very thin, and is attached to the subjacent 

 muscular, by very fine cellular substance, which permits it to 

 be raised from the muscular by a careful dissection. >/ 



The Muscular Coat is intermediate in thickness to that of the 

 intestines and of the oesophagus, but its fibres are pale, are col- 

 lected into flattened fasciculi, and go in three directions. The 

 most superficial are a continuation of the longitudinal fibres of 

 the oesophagus, and are less numerous and less uniform in their 

 distribution than the circular fibres. The greater part of them 

 forms a flattened broad fasciculus, which extends along the lesser 

 curvature of the stomach, from the cardiac to the pyloric ori- 

 fice. A thinner and less distinct fasciculus may be traced over 

 the great cul-de-sac, and somewhat indistinctly, along the great- 

 er curvature; and a few others may be seen on the anterior and 

 posterior faces of the stomach. The second series consists in a 

 lamina of circular fibres distinctly covering the whole surface 

 of the organ. They are not so numerous near the cardia, but 

 become more abundant as they are examined towards the pylo- 

 rus, in the vicinity of which they are multiplied so as to form 

 a lamina of two lines or more in thickness. The circular fibres 

 are parallel with each other, and, when the stomach is much 

 distended, their fasciculi separate so as to leave interstices be- 

 tween them in many places. The individual fibres do not sur- 

 round entirely the stomach, but are rather segments of circles. 

 The third and deepest series of fibres may be called oblique, 

 and are arranged into two broad flattened fasciculi, one of which 

 is placed to the left side of the cardia, and is prolonged over 

 the anterior and the posterior faces of the stomach; while the 

 other, being to the right of the same orifice, is extended over 

 the anterior and the posterior faces of the cul-de-sac, where it 

 supplies the want of transverse or circular fibres: this series 

 may be considered as a continuation of the circular fibres of 

 the oesophagus. 



The Nervous or Cellular Coat connects the muscular with the 

 mucous. It is formed by a compact, thick, and short cellular 

 substance, which contributes much to the general strength of 

 the organ, and serves to conduct the blood vessels and the 

 nerves to the mucous coat. 



The Mucous or Villous Coat is the most internal, is not quite 

 VOL. II. 4 



