CHAPTER VI. 

 DISSECTION OF THE ABDOMEN. 



SECTION I. 



WALL OF THE ABDOMEN. 



Position. The body will be sufficiently raised by blocks beneath 

 ^ ne thorax and head for the dissection of the upper limbs and 

 neck, but the dissector should see that the chest is higher than 

 the pelvis. If the abdomen is flaccid, it may be inflated through an 

 aperture in the umbilicus, but if it is firm, proceed with the dissection 

 without blowing it up. 



Surface-marking. On its anterior aspect the abdomen is fairly 

 fmrfacof the un if rm ly convex, especially in fat bodies ; but at the side there is 

 the abdo- a slight hollow below the ribs, and a groove marks the position of 

 the iliac crest. Along the middle line is a groove over the linea 

 alba, which begins above in a depression over the ensiform process 

 (epigastric or infrasternal fossa] , and becoming gradually shallower 

 below ends a little beyond the umbilicus. The latter is a round, 

 depressed cicatrix, situate nearer to the pubic bones than to the 

 lower end of the body of the sternum, and opposite, as a rule, the 

 disc between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae. On each side 

 of the median groove is the elevation of the rectus muscle, which 

 is intersected in adult well-formed bodies by two or three transverse 

 furrows. 



Over the lower ends of the recti and the adjacent parts of the 



Position of 

 the body. 



Appear- 



Pit of the 

 stomach. 



Navel. 



Eminence of 

 pubes. 



Mons 

 Veneris. 



Inguinal 

 furrow. 



Poupart's 

 ligament. 



Abdominal 



rings, 



outer 



pubic bones the surface is somewhat elevated, owing to an 

 accumulation of fat ; and the name pubes has been given to this 

 part from its thick covering of hair. This projection is especially 

 marked in front of the bones in the female, where it is distinguished 

 as the mons Veneris. Beneath the eminence of the pubes the student 

 will be able to recognise with his finger the symphysis pubis, and 

 to trace outwards from it the osseous pubic crest, which leads to the 

 prominent pubic spine. From this to the anterior superior iliac 

 spine the curved inguinal furrow extends, separating the abdomen 

 from the thigh. If the finger be carried along the furrow it will 

 detect the firm band of Poupart's ligament, and sometimes one or 

 two inguinal glands. 



Immediately above and to the outer side of the pubic spine the 

 opening of the external abdominal ring may usually be felt ; and in 



