318 



Abdominal Viscera 



were covered only by a thin and transparent membrane. A congenital 

 umbilical hernia is a slighter degree of the same arrest of develop- 

 ment, but with the growth of the child it usually disappears. 



Ectopia viscerum, the result of imperfect development of chest and abdomen, a, liver ; />, 

 heart ; c , lung ; d, stomach ; e, spleen ; f, bowel ; <,-, kidney ; //, chorion ; ;', amnion ; A; 

 umb. cord ; i, placenta. 



THE ABDOMINAL VISCERA 



Stomach and intestine. The stomach extends across the epi- 

 gastrium, between the two hypochondriac regions, but its position, 

 like its shape and size, is liable to considerable variation. (Sec 

 p. 164.) 



Placed in the vault of the diaphragm, it has that muscle above and 

 in front of it, the liver intervening between its anterior surface and the 

 diaphragm towards the right side, whilst a wedge of lung descends 

 between the ribs and diaphragm in front of the stomach on the left 

 side. An additional anterior relation is the abdominal wall, close 

 behind which it lies. Behind are the vertebral column, crura of dia- 

 phragm, aorta, vena cava, and pancreas. Below it are the transverse 





