368 SURGICAL Ar PLIED AXATOMY. [Chap.xvn. 



crural nerve ; (2) the common iliac vessels on the left 

 side, and the external iliac vessels on the right ; (3) 

 it then enters the posterior false ligament of the 

 bladder, and so reaches the bladder wall. The 

 narrowest part of the tube is the portion within the 

 bladder walls, and when renal calculi pass along the 

 ureter they are often arrested at this point. The 

 ureters permit of great distension, and in certain 

 cases of gradual dilatation they have attained a width 

 equal to that of the thumb and even of the small 

 intestine. Several cases are recorded of rupture of 

 the ureter from external violence. When such an 

 accident occurs a large urinary collection usually 

 forms behind the peritoneum, which, leading to 

 suppuration, will produce a fluctuating tumour 

 beneath the parietes. 



After the vessels have been tied, the ureter is 

 isolated and sequred on a level with the lower end of 

 the kidney, the ureter begins to expand into a funnel- 

 shaped cavity the pelvis. This in turn divides into 

 the calyces. In the pelvis or calyces calculi are 

 frequently lodged. The calyces are too narrow to 

 admit an exploring finger. 



The nerve supply of the abdominal viscera. 

 Some account has already been given of these 

 nerves and their communications (page 298). The 

 abdominal viscera are mainly supplied by the 

 sympathetic system through a series of remarkable 

 plexuses. The most important of these is the solar, 

 from which is more or less directly derived the nerve 

 supply of the stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, 

 suprarenal capsules, pancreas, and such parts of the 

 intestine .as are in connection with the superior 

 mesenteric artery. The solar plexus and its 

 appendages receive the splanchnic nerves and some 

 branches from the vagus, while communications from 

 the phrenic go to the hepatic and suprarenal plexuses. 



