ABDOMINAL CAVITY 309 



of the organ courses upwards and to the right to reach its 

 termination. 



While the various conditions which determine the position and form of the 

 full stomach are under consideration, it is necessary to take into account the 

 state of the movable, and as a rule yielding, floor of the stomach chamber. 

 It is possible that the easiest and most natural way for the stomach to 

 expand, under ordinary circumstances, is in a downward direction by 

 intestinal displacement, and when this occurs the oblique portion of the 

 organ is the result. But when the intestines are distended the stomach 

 cannot acquire the necessary space in this manner, and the liver, which 

 forms so large a part of the roof of the stomach chamber, has to give way 

 before it. The obvious result of such a change in the position and form of 

 the pliant liver is that the full stomach retains the horizontal position. 



The dissector must remember that the description given 

 above refers to the appearance presented by the stomach fixed 

 and hardened after death when the body is lying on its back. 

 It probably has a very similar form and similar relations during 

 life when the body is recumbent ; but when the body is erect 

 the cesophageal orifice and the fundus retain their close 

 relationships to the diaphragm and the pylorus remains at 

 the level of the transpyloric plane, but the lowest part of the 

 greater curvature descends to, or below, the level of the um- 

 bilicus, and the upper two-thirds of the organ becomes more 

 tubular and lies more in a vertical plane (Figs. 122, 125). 



When the stomach is empty it is questionable if it ever 

 assumes, during life, the flaccid, relaxed, and flattened form 

 which is so frequently seen in the dissecting-room, in subjects 

 which have not been specially hardened. In life, the healthy 

 stomach, by contraction of its muscular coat, adapts itself 

 to its contents whether they are liquid, gaseous, or solid, and 

 when empty and contracted its walls are thick and firm. 



The Abdominal Part of the (Esophagus. The abdominal 

 part of the gullet is very short probably never more than one 

 inch in length. It lies in the upper and posterior part of the 

 epigastric region, behind a groove in the posterior aspect of 

 the left lobe of the liver, and in front of the left crus of the 

 diaphragm. Its right border passes uniformly and gradually 

 into the lesser curvature of the stomach, without the formation 

 of an angle, but a very definite angle is formed between 

 its left border and the fundus. 



Relations between Thoracic and Abdominal Organs. At 

 this stage it is advisable to consider the relations between the 

 abdominal and thoracic organs which lie upon the different 

 aspects of the diaphragm. It has been noted that the right 



