THE PEEITONEUM. 



1161 



Falciform ligament 

 Foramen epiploicum 



Stomach 



Round ligament of liver 

 f 



Lesser omentum (cut) 

 Portal vein 



Vena cava 



Lieno-renal 

 ligament 



Small intestine 



Eight kidney 



The mesentery 



abdomen and certain other cavities, is to facilitate the movements of the contained 

 viscera during any changes in size or form which they or their containing cavity 

 may undergo. As a result of this arrangement, notwithstanding the tonic pressure 

 of the abdominal wall on its contents, the stomach and intestines are free to move 

 with the greatest ease and the least degree of friction, when any change takes place 

 either in the organs themselves or in their surroundings. 



The peritoneum is a thin glistening membrane, which may aptly be compared 

 to a coat of varnish 

 applied to the inner 

 aspect of the ab- 

 dominal walls, and 

 to the surface of the 

 contained viscera, 

 except where these 

 are directly applied 

 to the walls or to 

 one another. It 

 forms throughout its 

 entire extent a con- 

 tinuous and distinct 

 sheet, but it is united 

 so intimately to the 

 viscera, and follows 

 the irregularities of 

 their walls so closely, 

 that it appears at 

 first sight to be a 

 superficial layer of 

 these walls, rather 

 than a separate 

 membrane. Outside 

 the peritoneum lies 

 the tela subserosa 

 already described 

 by which the peri- 

 toneum is connected 

 more or less inti- 

 mately to the fascial 

 lining of the abdo- 

 minal walls and 

 to the abdominal 

 viscera. 



The portion of 

 peritoneum which 

 lines the walls of the 

 cavity is known as 

 the peritoneum pari- 

 etale and that which 

 clothes the viscera 

 as the peritoneum 

 viscerale. 



If we trace the peritoneum, beginning in front, we find that it lines the deep 

 surface of the anterior abdominal wall, and is continued upwards to the inferior 

 surface of the diaphragm (Fig. 914), the greater portion of which it covers. From 

 the posterior part of the diaphragm it is reflected or carried forwards on to the 

 superior surface of the liver. From the liver it can be traced over the stomach, 

 intestines, and other abdominal viscera to the pelvis. In like manner, when traced 

 laterally from the anterior wall, the membrane will be found to line the sides of 

 the cavity,. and passing backwards to clothe the posterior abdominal wall, and the 



Ascending colon 



Descending colon 



FIG. 915. DIAGRAMMATIC TEAKS VERSE SECTIONS OF ABDOMEN, to show the 

 peritoneum on transverse tracing. A, at level of foramen epiploicum ; B, 

 lower down. In A note, one of the short gastric arteries passing to the 

 stomach between the layers of the gastro - lienal ligament, and also the 

 foramen epiploicum leading into the bursa omentalis which lies behind the 

 stomach. 



