DISSECTION OF THE ABDOMEN. 



Superficial 

 fascia 



is divided 

 into two 

 layers. 



The subcu- 

 taneous 

 layer con- 

 tains fat, 



except in 

 the penis 

 and scro- 

 tum. 



Deeper 



branous 



same manner as the other layer, and detach it carefully with the 

 vessels from the underlying aponeurosis of the external oblique 

 muscle. This stratum, like the preceding, is to be traced around 

 the cord to the scrotum ; and as the student follows it downwards 

 he will find it connected with Poupart's ligament, and blended with 

 the fascia lata close below that structure. 



The SUPERFICIAL FASCIA is a single layer over the greater part of 

 the abdomen ; but in the groin it is divided into a subcutaneous and 

 a deeper stratum by the vessels and the glands. 



The subcutaneous layer contains the fat, and varies therefore in 

 appearance and thickness in different bodies ; for it is sometimes 

 divisible into strata, while in other cases it is very thin, and some- 

 what membranous near the thigh. It is continuous with the fatty 

 covering of the thigh and abdomen, and, when traced to the limb, 

 is separated from Poupart's ligament beneath by the superficial 

 vessels and glands. Internally it is continued to the penis and 

 scrotum, where it changes its adipose tissue for involuntary mus- 

 cular fibre ; and after investing the testicle it is prolonged to the 

 perineum. 



The deeper layer (fascia of Scarpa) is thinner and more mem- 

 branous tnan tne other, and is closely united to the tendon of the 

 external oblique by fibrous bands along the linea alba. Like the 

 special elm- subcutaneous part, this layer is continued upwards on the abdomen, 



racters and . J ,..,.. 



ion; and inwards to the penis and the scrotum, through which it is pro- 

 longed to the perineum, where it has attachments to the subjacent 



and ends on parts, as before specified (p. 244). Towards the limb, it ends a little 

 below Poupart's ligament by joining the fascia lata across the front 

 of the thigh. 



Urine effused in the perineum from rupture of the urethra will 

 be directed through the scrotum and along the spermatic cord to 

 the abdomen. From the attachment of the deeper layer to the 

 fascia across the thigh, it is evident that the fluid cannot pass down 

 the limb, though its progress over the front of the abdomen is 

 uninterrupted. 



Fascia in ^ n tne female the superficial fascia of the groin is separable into 



the female, two layers, and the disposition of each is nearly the same as in the 

 male ; but the part that is continued to the scrotum in the one sex 

 enters the labium in the other. In the female the round ligament of 

 the uterus is lost in it. 



CUTANEOUS NERVES. The skin of the abdomen is supplied mainly 

 by the lower intercostal nerves ; thus, the cutaneous branches along 

 the side of the belly are offsets from five or six of those nerves ; and 



are derived the cutaneous branches along the front are the terminal parts of the 

 same trunks. Two other cutaneous offsets from the lumbar plexus, 

 viz., ilio-hypogastric and ilio-inguinal, appear at the lower part of 

 the abdomen. 



The LATERAL CUTANEOUS NERVES (fig. 97) of the abdomen emerge 



intercostal" 1 between the digitations of the external oblique muscle, in a line with 

 the same set of nerves on the thorax ; and the lowest are the most 



fascia lata. 



Attach- 

 ments deter 

 mine course 

 of effused 

 urine. 



Cutaneous 

 nerves 



from two 

 sources. 



Lateral 

 cutaneous of 



