PHYSIOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS 



the right, then downwards, and then to the left, and so forms 

 a loop or bend. 



The small intestine forming the continuation of the 

 duodenum is thrown into coils, which lie chiefly in the central 

 and lower parts of the abdomen. The part next to the 

 duodenum is a little redder (there being more blood-vessels 

 in it) than the rest ; this is called the jejunum. The remaining 

 part of the small intestine is called the ileum. At the lower 

 part of the abdomen, on the right side, in the right groin, it 

 opens into the large intestine. The whole length of the small 

 intestine is about twenty feet. 



The large intestine is much broader than the small intestine, 

 and is thrown into puckers. It begins in the right groin, in 

 a dilated part called the ccecum. The small intestine opens 

 into the ccecum, and at the opening there are two folds of 

 tissue, which form a valve, so that matter can pass readily from 

 the small intestine into the large intestine, but not back again. 

 This valve is called the ileo-ccecal valve. There is a small 

 structure growing out, as it were, of the ccecum at its lower 

 end ; this is called the vermiform appendix. The large 

 intestine is continued from the ccecum up the right side of 

 the abdomen nearly to the liver ; it then turns and runs across 

 just below the stomach, and then runs down the left side ; 

 these three portions are called the ascending colon, the 

 transverse colon, and the descending colon. The descending 

 colon passes on by a straight tube, about nine inches long, 

 called the rectum, which ends at the external opening or anus. 

 The large intestine, including the rectum, is about six feet long. 



The pancreas lies, supported by the mesentery, in the bend 

 of the duodenum. It is about seven inches long, and lies 

 transversely just below the stomach ; it is covered in front 

 by the transverse colon, and partly by the stomach. Its right 

 end, round which the duodenum bends, is thick, and called the 

 head ; the left end is thin, and called the tail. 



The spleen lies under the stomach, on the left side, just to 

 the left of the tail of the pancreas. 



The kidneys are situated deep in the abdomen, one on each 

 side of the vertebne of the loins. The one on the right side 

 is close under the liver, and the one on the left is close under 

 the spleen. 



