OF THE OMENTA. 15 



4. The Omentum Gastro Splenicum is the left flank or mar- 

 gin of the omentum majus, extended from the great end of the 

 stomach to the spleen. It of course consists of but two laminae, 

 which contain between them the splenic vessels and*the vasa 

 brevia. 



By looking for the posterior end of the gall-bladder, and then 

 passing a finger under the right margin of the hepatico-gastric 

 omentum, or in other words, under the capsule of Glisson, where 

 it extends from the liver to the duodenum, the finger will be 

 found to have insinuated itself behind the stomach, and, by be- 

 ing directed downwards, will be thrust into the sac or cavity of 

 the great omentum. In children, where the latter is less reticu- 

 lated than in adults, and consequently more entire, a large blow- 

 pipe introduced at the same point will enable one to inflate this 

 cavity, and to separate its anterior from its posterior wall. This 

 aperture, called the foramen of Winslow, is the route by which 

 the internal or lining lamina of the omentum majus is introduced, 

 so as to make this process of peritoneum double throughout its 

 whole parietes. Though this fact of duplicity is generally con- 

 ceded, no author heretofore, to my knowledge, has pointed out. 

 satisfactorily the means; and for the suggestion of it, I am in- 

 debted to a learned and zealous member of the profession, now 

 Professor Hodge of the University. Struck, at an early period 

 of his studies, with the difficulty of tracing a double sac to the 

 omentum majus, out of a single membrane of the peritoneum, 

 this suggestion was happily made by him to remove the difficul- 

 ties of other explanations. An attempt at a diagram formed 

 upon any other principle I have invariably seen to fail. If the 

 reader has conceived the idea, the inference will be plain, that 

 the lining lamina of the omentum majus is continued as a com- 

 mon peritoneal covering over the posterior face of the stomach, 

 and then forms the posterior lamina of the hepatico-gastric omen- 

 tum. It will also be plain that the same lamina, having reached 

 the colon in its return, continues afterwards as the upper lamina 

 of the transverse mesocolon. 



From what has been said concerning the general qualities of 

 the peritoneum, it is to be understood that though it enjoys much 

 power of gradual extension, nevertheless this quality is not suf- 

 ficient to enable it to endure, without a special provision, the 



