Till: INTESTI\ 411 



!< <:ins at the caecum, and terminates by suddenly contracting at the origin 

 of the small colon. 



l.'ii'lth Capacity. It is from about 10 to 13 feet in length, and has a 

 medium capacity equal to 18 gallons. 



r ni - (i'< in ml ilixpoxiliim. Removed from the abdominal cavity, and 

 i xt( nded on a table or on the ground, this portion of the intestine appears as 

 a voluminous canal, offering a succession of dilatations and contractions ; 

 its surface being traversed by longitudinal bands, and sacculated and 

 furrowed transversely for a great part of its extent, exactly like the ctecum. 

 It is also doubled in such a manner as to form a loop, whose two branches 

 are of equal length and are held together by the peritoneum, which is 

 carried from one to the other ; so that the terminal extremity of the large 

 colon returns towards the point of its origin. 



But this colic flexure, owing to its length, could not be contained in the 

 abdomen ; and it is therefore doubled in its turn from above to below and 

 from right to left (at the points F, F, in Fig. 205) 

 and forms curvatures which will be noticed pre- 

 sently. From this circumstance, it happens that 

 the large colon, studied in the abdominal cavity, 

 is divided into four portions lying beside each 

 other in pairs ; so that a transverse section of that 

 cavity, made in front of the base of the ctecum, 

 would give for this intestine the results indicated 

 in the annexed figure. 



Course and Relations. In following the course 

 of the large colon from its origin to its termina- 

 tion, in order to study its four portions in their 

 normal relations, the following is observed : 



Commencing from the arch of the caecum, the colon is directed forwards, 

 above the middle portion of that reservoir, which it follows to its point. 

 Arrived at the posterior face of the diaphragm at its most declivitous part, 

 it bends downwards and to the left, forming its first or suprasternal fl> 

 because it rests on the xiphoid cartilage of the sternum (Fig. 204, g). Here 

 begins the second portion of the viscus, which is in immediate contact 

 with the inferior abdominal wall, and extends backwards into the pelvic 

 cavity, where it is inflected to the left to constitute the jx-li-Ir //-./;;/. This 

 curvature, the centre of the colic loop, responds to the rectum and bladder, 

 as well as to the deferent canals, or the uterus and ovaries, according to 

 the sex. It is succeeded by the third portion of the colon, which is carried 

 i rd. above, and to the left of the preceding. Bound to the second 

 division by peritoneum and connective tissue, this new section reaches the 

 phrenic centre, and is then doubled upwards and to the right. The flexure 

 arising from this third duplicaturo is called the (KopftrapMiji^ localise i.f it-; 

 n-liitions with the musculo-aponcurotic membrane which partitions tho. great 

 cuvity of the trunk, or the gastro-hepatic cnrrutun', in consequence <>f its lying 

 equally against the liver and stomach (it is also designated the sigmoiil fl- 



204, k). To this flexure succeeds the fourth and last portion of tho 



large colon, bound to tho first portion, as the second is ti the third. This 



; iorly, to the base of tho crecum, where it terminates in ;i 



sudden contraction, and is continued by the small c.don : it occupies tho 



siiltlumbar n-_ r i"ii. and through tin- medium of a cellular layi r is applied 



::>t the interior face. of the paiicn as and the inner sides of the. (weal arch. 



<>f tiltnrhiiient. Tho large colon can be easily displaced in the 



