DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 247 



now brought into view, investing the lower part of the stomach ; 

 to the great curvature of which, and to that portion of colon 

 which crosses the spine to form the sigmoid flexure (its last 

 turn), it is attached. In the horse, the omentum is small, and 

 seldom contains much adipose matter. It consists of four layers 

 of peritoneum : two derived from the stomach, and two from 

 the colon; which are disposed in a manner that will be pointed 

 out when the reflection of that membrane is considered. 



Mesentery. — The small intestines are loosely connected to the 

 spine by a duplicature of peritoneum, called the mesentery; 

 the colon is attached in like manner to the bone by a production 

 of the sajne membrane, named the mesocolon ; and the rectum 

 is confined in its place by a similar reflection, by some described 



as the MESORECTUM. 



The LIVER is, in major part, situated in the right hypochon- 

 driac region, though some part of it Ues in the epigastric, and a 

 small portion extends between the stomach and diaphragm into 

 .the left hypochondriac region. This viscus is confined in its 

 situation by means of, what are named, its ligaments; which, 

 with the exception of one, are nothing more than productions of 

 peritoneum. The one attaching the right lobe to the diaphragm, 

 is called the rig/it ligament ; a similar one connecting the left to 

 it, the left ligament ; between the diaphragm and its middle 

 lobe, we find the suspensory ligament; and immediately above 

 that, surrounding the posterior vena cava, the coronary ligament : 

 lastly, within the folds of the suspensory ligament are the re- 

 mains of the umbilical vein, to which the name of round ligament 

 has been given. The large lobe of this gland is concealed by 

 the great arch of the colon ; its left and middle lobes are in con- 

 tact with the stomach, and its right with the duodenum and 

 upper margin of the right kidney : to all of which it has peritoneal 

 attachments. 



The spleen is situated in the left hypochondriac region, 

 lying there within the concavities of the false ribs, with the 

 hindermost cartilages of which its margin lineally corresponds ; 

 so that if the abdomen were pierced from the left side posteriorly 

 to the last rib, this organ would escape injury. It is attached to 

 the left half of the great curvature of the stomach ; but the chief 

 bulk of it lies behind and rather above the stomach. Its an- 

 terior end lies in contact with the left lobe of the liver : its 

 posterior is connected to the left kidney, and concealed by the 

 convolutions of the colon. 



Pancreas. — The most ready way to get a view of the 

 pancreas is to tear through the omentum. It lies across the 

 spine, within the epigastric region, underneath the crura of the 



