THK POSTER! Oil .I"/,'7M. 527 



mediastinum, one al*>vo, tbo other below tlie oesophagus, which tbey accompany 

 for a short distance, from before to behind, to the extremity of that canal. 



The superior cesophu<j>'nl m-tt rij, much more voluminous than the inferior, 

 inosculates with a branch of the gastric artery. In its course it gives descend- 

 ing branches to the oesophagus, and ascending ones to the mediastinum. 



The inferior oesoj)Jt<i</if nrfiry also anastomoses with a branch of the 

 gastric; most frequently with that noticed above. It likewise furnishes 

 -ling and descending divisions ; the latter, however, going to the 

 UK -diastinnm, and the former to the oesophagus. 



INNOMINATE RAMUSCULKS. The innominate ramuscules of the broncho- 

 cesophageal trunk do not all come directly from it ; there being always 

 a certain number which emerge from the bronchial or cesophageal arteries. 

 Th'y are more particularly distributed to the trachea, to that portion 

 of the oesophagus which is in contact witli the posterior extremity of this 

 cartilaginous tube, to the bronchial glands, the mediastinum, and the 

 pulmonary pleura. Those destined for the latter form on the surface of 

 the lung, along with the divisions of the pleural branch furnished by the 

 gastric artery, a beautiful plexus. 



2. Codiac Artery or Trunk (or Axis). 



This; artery arises at a right angle from the inferior face of the aorta, 

 immediately on the entrance of that vessel into the abdominal cavity. 

 Alt' r a course of from half to three-fourths of an inch at most, in the 

 middle of the solar plexus, and beneath the superior face of the pancreas, this 

 trunk separates into three branches: a middle, the gastric artery ; a right, 

 the /< j in t'n' nrfi-ry ; and a left, the splenic artery. 



1. GASTRIC AHTERT (the coronaria veritriculi of Man.) This artery 

 descends on the large tnberosity of the stomach, extends to near the 

 insertion of the oesophagus, and then divides into two branches : the anterior 

 and posterior qaxtric. The first passes behind and to the right of the 

 i >phagus, and crossing the small curvature of the stomach, gains the 

 anterior face of that viscus, where it separates into flexuous and divergent 

 branches which run beneath the serous membrane, and are carried more 

 particularly towards the left cul de-sac and around the cardia. The seoond 

 vessel is distributed in the same manner to the posterior wall of the organ, 

 but chiefly to the right sac. 



> ndently of these two arteries, the gastric trunk gives off a third 



and constant branch, which often cornos from one of the two branches 



of this trunk, and sometimes also from the coeliac artery itself, or from the 



splenic. This branch accompanies the oesophagus, along with tin- ri_'ht 



pneumogastric, crosses the opening of the right pillar of the diaphragm to 



r the pectoral cavity, and then divides into two branches, each of which 



anastomoses with one of the cesophageal arteries, and is then thrown over 



the posterior extremity of a pulmonary lobe, which it covers with a magniti- 



stibplcural rcticular arborisation. This gastro-pulmonary artery often 



-tomoses with tho superior cesophagcal branch only, and goes exclusively 



to the right lung; for the left lung and the inferior o?sophageal artery, 



in this case there is a special branch which emanates fr.mi tin- anti-rim- 



. ric. It is not rare to meet with varieties of another kind, hut of which 



not necessary to speak ; inasmuch as in these pleural ramitieut ions we 



find a disposition common to the whole arterial system : distribution alnnM 



i;ible, origin very inconstant. 



i. i:\ie AUTKHV. The largest of the three- brunches of tin- co-lia<- 



