THE STOMACH AND SPLEEN. 185 
The following artery may be identified but not traced to its term- 
ination until later, so that the bile duct and portal vein are not injured. 
(c) The hepatic artery (a. hepatica), the continuation of the 
coeliac, passes forward and to the right, giving off small 
branches to the pancreas. Its first main branch is the 
gastroduodenal artery (a. gastroduodenalis). The latter 
is distributed chiefly to the first portion of the intestine as the 
superior pancreaticoduodenal artery (a. pancreatico- 
duodenalis superior), but a recurrent branch, the right gas- 
troepiploic artery (a. gastroepiploica dextra), traverses the 
greater omentum to the greater curvature where it anasto- 
moses with the left gastroepiploic artery. 
After giving off the gastroduodenal artery, the hepatic enters 
the lesser omentum on its way to the liver. A small branch, 
the right gastric artery (a. gastrica dextra) passes to the 
pylorus and anastomoses across the lesser curvature with a 
branch of the left gastric artery. 
The veins of the stomach and spleen are tributaries of the portal 
vein. Accompanying the branches of the splenic artery are the tribu- 
taries of the splenic vein (v. lienalis), including the left gastroepiploic 
vein. Accompanying the branches of the left gastric artery are the 
tributaries of the coronary vein (v. coronaria ventriculi). The splenic 
and coronary veins enter the left wall of the portal vein through a short 
common trunk. 
On the right side of the stomach the superior pancreaticoduo- 
denal vein is united with the right gastroepiploic vein to form a 
short trunk, the gastroduodenal vein (v. gastroduodenalis), which 
enters the right wall of the portal vein. The left gastroepiploic vein 
receives tributaries from the dorsal surface of the pyloric antrum. 
The abdominal portion of the tenth cranial, or vagus 
nerve (n. vagus) may be traced from the oesophagus to the 
surface of the stomach. The left cord appears on the left 
wall of the oesophagus; crossing the ventral surface of the 
latter obliquely to the right, it ramifies on the ventral 
portion of the lesser curvature. The right cord passes to the 
stomach in a similar manner from the dorsal surface of the 
oesophagus. 
5. Cut across the stomach at the pyloric antrum. Divide the 
oesophagus, and remove the stomach from the body. Open the 
