INTESTINAL CANAL. 37 



projections which it makes between the longitudinal bands, into 

 the cavity of the gut, and which separate the cells of the large 

 intestine from each other, are not mere duplicatures of it alone, 

 but are also constituted by the other coats. 



Near its commencement this coat has the fungous appearance 

 of the stomach, but about the sigmoid flexure ,it has a plain, 

 smooth, and, to a degree, a polished surface. It has but few 

 villi, such as exist in the small intestine; indeed, some anato- 

 mists deny that it has any. Its muciparous glands and follicles 

 are numerous, and the former, when somewhat enlarged, pro- 

 ject; they are unusually conspicuous about the sigmoid flexure, 

 and in the rectum. Its lacteals are not abundant. 



The mucous coat of the large intestine is very vascular, but 

 not so much so as that of the small intestine. 



Each division of the large intestine has some peculiari- 

 ties of structure and connexions; which may now be attend- 

 ed to. 



The Coecum, or Caput Coli, is generally from an inch and a 

 half to two inches long, has a rounded termination below and 

 somewhat to the left, from which proceeds an intestinal pro- 

 cess, the Appendicula Vermiformis. The latter is from three 

 to four inches long, is cylindrical, has a diameter of two or 

 three lines, and consists of the same number of coats, having 

 the same structure with other portions of the intestinal canal; 

 its base is the point from which the three longitudinal bands 

 start. It is attached by a narrow duplicature of peritoneum, 

 a process of the mesentery, which permits it to float loosely in 

 the abdomen. It seldom contains faeces, but is kept distended 

 by flatus. 



The ccccum, as mentioned, is, for the most part, confined to 

 the right iliac fossa, but we very frequently see it with a renp-trt 

 of peritoneal attachment permitting it to descend for a short 

 distance into the pelvis. 



The lleo-colic Valve (Valvula Bauhini) is formed at the 

 junction of the ileum with the caput coli. This valve, destined 

 to prevent the return of fsical matter from the large into the 

 small intcs'ine, consists in a transverse elliptical opening, or 

 slit, whose lips become approximated in the distentions of the 



VOL. II.-5 



