990 



THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION 



straighter. It separates the renal and jjhrenic surfaces. The term inner border 

 is api^lied to the rid<;c Ijetween the gastric and renal surfaces. 



The lower end of the spleen is blunt and presents a triangular area which Cun- 

 ninuhani calls the l)asal surface. It lies against the splenic flexure of the colon 

 and the costo-colic ligaments. The term basal ai)plied to this extremity is due to 

 the circumstance that the shape of the spleen //( .-iitn is that of an irregular tetra- 

 hedron with its liase below (Cunningham). 



The spleen is set obliquely in the body. Its long axis about corresponds to 

 the line of the tenth rib. 



In size it varies, owing to the fact that it increases in dimensions after food 

 and under other circumstances. In the adult it measures generally about five to 



Fig. 591.— ViivW of the Spleen, etc., from behind. (RUdiuger.) 



six inches in length, three or four inches in breadth, and one to one and a half 

 inches in thickness; its usual volume, according to Krause, is from nine and three- 

 quarters to lifteen cubic inches. Its average weight is one hundred and seventy 

 grammes. 



It is entirely surrounded by ])eritoneum exee])t at the liilum. On either side of 

 the hilum the gastro-splenic ligament is attached. This reflexion of ])eritoneuu), 

 sometimes called the gastro-splenic omentum, ])asses inwards to the left extremity 

 of the stomach and the left margin of the great omentum. N fold of peritoneum, 

 the i)hreno-splenic ligament, connects the upper end of the spleen to the dia- 

 ])hragm. The reflection of peritoneum from the spleen to the left kidney is called 

 the lieno-renal ligament. 



