THE STOMACH 249 



The capacity of the stomach in the new-born is only i^ oz. 

 At three months, it has increased to 4^ oz., at six months to 

 6 oz., while at the end of the first year it can retain 9 oz. 

 Thereafter it goes on increasing gradually until, in the adult, 

 the average capacity is about 40 oz. or i quart. 



The Lymph Vessels of the stomach pass, by several routes, 

 to terminate in the coeliac lymph glands, which are closely 

 related to the commencement of the abdominal aorta. Before 

 reaching the coeliac glands, the gastric lymph vessels pass 

 through subsidiary groups, including (i) glands in relation to 

 the pylorus, which also receive afferents from the liver; and 

 (2) glands lying along the upper border of the pancreas, which 

 also receive afferents from the spleen and the pancreas. 



In malignant disease of the stomach, secondary growths are 

 frequently found in the liver. They also occur in the pancreas 

 and, more rarely, in the spleen. Occasionally the lower group 

 of the deep cervical glands of the left side may be affected. 

 In this case the infection is carried by the thoracic duct 

 (p. 324), which, at its lower end, receives the efferents from 

 the coeliac lymph glands. 



NERVE-SUPPLY OF THE STOMACH. The stomach derives its 

 nerve-supply from two sources, namely, (a) the sympathetic 

 and (b) the vagi. 



(a) At an early period of development the stomach is simply 

 a localised dilatation of the primitive foregut, and, at this 

 period, it receives its nerve-supply. The proximal or cardiac 

 end of the tube, therefore, is supplied from a higher segment 

 of the spinal medulla than the pyloric end. These nerves 

 have their centres in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth 

 thoracic segments, and they pass by the white rami com- 

 municantes to the thoracic part of the sympathetic trunk. 

 They descend in the greater splanchnic nerves (p. 187) to the 

 coeliac ganglia and thence are carried on the coats of the 

 gastric blood-vessels to the stomach. 



Viscero-sensory and viscero-motor reflexes (p. 192) occur 

 with great frequency in pathological conditions of the stomach, 



