v.//; 



the substance of the mesentery, and joins the first artery bclong'ng to tin- It ft 

 fasciculus of the great mesenteric, after furnishing some twigs to the 

 pancreas, and numerous branches to the duodenum. 



]n terminating the description of the right gastro-omentiil artery, it may 

 be remarked that the stomach, owing to the anastomoses uniting that vessel 

 with the artery of the left side, is suspended, as it were, in a vertical arterial 

 circle, formed by the splenic and left gastro-omental arteries on the one 

 part, and the hepatic and right gastro-omentul arteries on the other a circle 

 v. IK ise concavity sends out on the stomach a great number of divisions, 

 which communicate with the arterial ramuscules proper to that viscus. 



3. Great Mesenteric Artery. (Fig. 271.) 



The great mcsenteric artery, which almost entirely supplies the intestinal 



mas-; with blood, is as remarkable for its volume as for its complicated 



1 >nt: on. This complexity, together with that of the intestine itself, 



to some difficulty in the study of this vessel ; but this may be 



averted by adopting the mode of description, as simple as it is methodical, 



i > in his lectures by M. Lecoq. 



The great mesenteric arises at a right angle from the abdominal aorta, 

 at the renal arteries, and at 2 or 2 inches behind the coaliac trunk, from 

 which it is separated by the pancreas ; it is directed immediately downwards, 

 ed by the anastomosing nervous branches of the solar plexus, and divides, 

 after a course of from 1 to li l inches, into three fasciculi of branches, which 

 are distinguished as left, right, and anterior. The left fasciculus goes to the 

 small intestine : the r'ujlit is distributed to the terminal portion of that intes- 

 tine, to the caecum, and to the first portion of the loop or flexure formed by 

 the large colon ; the anterior is carried to the second portion of that flexure, 

 and to the origin of the small colon. The order in which these three fasci- 

 culi have been indicated will also be that followed in their description : it 

 has, as will be observed, the advantage of recalling to the memory the 

 regular succession of the various parts of the intestine, and consequently 

 the- passage of the food in this important portion of the digestive canal. 



A. AKTKRIES OF THE LEFT FASCICULUS (Fig. 271, 2). These artories 

 number from fifteen to twenty, and are named the AUTKIUES OF THE SMALL 

 <r<i*<i int'xlnil ti-nilix), because of their destination. All spring at 

 t.nce fn>m the great mesenteric artery, either separately, or several in 

 common, and pass between the two layers of the mesentery to gain the 

 intestine. Before reaching the small curvature of that viscus, each divides 

 into two branches, which go to meet corresponding branches from the 

 neighbouring arteries, and to anastomose with them by inosculation ; from 

 this arrangement results a series of uninterrupted arterial arches, whose 

 convexity is downwards, and which exist for the whole length of the intestine 

 opposite, and in proximity to, its concavity. From the convexity of these 

 arch.'* emanate a multitude of branches that arrive at the inner curvature 

 of the intestine, and whose divisions pass to each of the faces of that viscus to 

 rejoin and anastomose on its great curvature. These divisions are situated be- 

 neath tho peritoneum or in the muscular layer, and fend the majority of their 

 ramuscules to the mucous tunic, which is tin n f"iv <li>tinguishi d by its prc at 

 vascularity : a feature common to all the hollow organs in tho abdominal cavity. 



1 This trunk of the tfrcn' ui.-4 -utei ic- is u-u:illy, in the old Imrx-s killed for diaaet- 

 ti'in. i ,t niorr nr It-.-s voluminous iun-uii.-in. \\hirh s 'Hi' time * .Minds in the 



d titl).- |.l .. oiiirin of the linuirhi s of the ri-l.t (j.-.-iniliis. mul it i- not 



iinfrei|iiriitlv nn-t with in one or ihe other serlioii of tin- i:iv:ii m- - uti-ric artery. 



2 M 



