INTESTINAL TUBE. 185 



lated aspect, and are placed opposite the attachment of the 

 mesentery ; the number and position of these patches vary, 

 but there is almost always a large one near the termination 

 of the ileum in the caecum. The velvet-like surface of the 

 mucous membrane of the small intestine is made up of 

 \rilli, minute processes in which commence the lacteals, 

 and which are only distinctly visible with the assistance 

 of a lens. 



The duodenum, not having been removed with the rest 

 of the intestine, will be found in situ ; it is the first ten or 

 twelve inches of the canal beyond the stomach ; it has no 

 mesentery, and lies beneath the peritoneum, which only 

 covers its anterior surface; the direction taken by it gives 

 it the shape of a horseshoe, the convexity of which looks 

 toward the right side ; the head of the pancreas occupies 

 the concavity, and its duct, as well as that of the liver, 

 opens into it through the posterior wall. A form of glands, 

 called Brunner's glands, is peculiar to this portion of the 

 intestine ; they are scattered in great numbers throughout 

 its whole extent, and give the mucous surface a sort of 

 granular aspect. 



The STOMACH is an expanded portion of the alimentary 

 canal, between the oesophagus and duodenum. The oeso- 

 phagus, after passing through the diaphragm, terminates 

 by gradually dilating into the stomach. That portion of 

 the stomach expanding to the left of the oesophagus is 

 called its cardiac extremity, and that at the opposite end 

 thepyloric extremity. The superior curved border is called 

 the lesser curvature, and the inferior border the greater 

 curvature ; to these borders are attached respectively the 

 lesser and greater omentum. The stomach varies in size, 

 according to the individual, and the degree of distension 

 by its contents, and consequently varies somewhat in the 

 position it occupies; it is, however, always in relation with 

 the diaphragm, the abdominal parietes, and the liver, and by 

 a fold of the peritoneum, called the g astro-splenic omentum, 

 with the hilus of the spleen. The left pneumogastric nerve 

 may be traced upon the anterior surface of the stomach, 

 and the right upon its posterior surface. 



The stomach is to be removed by dividing it at the oesophagus, 

 close to the diaphragm, and at the duodenum, in such a way as to 

 leave behind that portion perforated by the ductus choledochus coiu- 

 munis ; it should then be laid open along the greater curvature. 



16* 



