1150 



DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 



them with a heat-economising covering of fat. It is nearly quadrilateral in shape, 

 and is variable in extent. In fig. 904 the great omentum is shown to be connected 

 mth the greater curvature of the stomach, on the one hand, and the transverse 

 colon, on the other. Originally it extended backward above the transverse colon 

 and mesocolon to the posterior abdominal wall. The line along which it fuses with 

 the transverse colon and mesocolon during development is shown in fig. 904. 



Mr. Lockwood has made some investigations on the lengths of the transverse meso-colon 

 and great omentum in thirty-three cases. In twenty, under the age of forty-five, only one sub- 

 ject had a great omentum long enough to be drawn beyond the pubic spine; in five, the omentum 

 reached as far as the pubes. In the cases beyond forty-five years it was the exception rather 

 than the rule to find an omentum which could not be pulled beyond the lower limits of the 

 abdomen. 



The lesser omentum [omentum minus] consists of a double layer of peritoneum 

 extending between the stomach and the liver. If the two anterior layers of the 

 great omentum are traced upward, they are seen to enclose the stomach, and then 



Fig. 906. — Abdominal Viscera, Anterior View, after Removal of a Part of the Liver 



AND Intestines. (Rauber-Kopsch.) 



Right lung 



Lesser I Gastro-hepa 

 Lesser , ,j 



omen- Hepato-duo- 



^"^ [ denal lig. 



Foramen epiploicum 



Fundus of gall bladder 



Right colic flexure 



Duodenum 



Right kidney 



Radix mesenterii 



Appendices epiploicae 



Ileo-colic fold and fossa 



Ileo-caecal fold 

 and fossa 



Processus vermiformis 



Spleen 



Phreno- 

 colic lig. 



Duodeno- 

 jejunal flexure 

 L_ Superior 



mesenteric 



vessels 

 Left kidney 

 Abdominal 



aorta 



Inf. mesenteric 

 art. 



Ureter 



join together again at the lesser curvature to form the lesser omentum (fig. 904). 

 It is connected above with the portal (transverse) fissure and the fissure for the 

 ductus venosus; below, with the lesser curvature of the stomach; the left extrem- 

 ity encloses the oesophagus; the right border contains the hepatic vessels and is 

 free, forming the anterior boundary of the epiploic foramen (see fig. 906), 



The lesser omentum is divided into two parts. The portion connecting the portal fissure 

 of the liver with the first part of the duodenum, and enclosing the root structures of the liver, 

 is called the hepalo-duodenul ligannnl [lig. hci)atoduodcnale]. The portion of the lesser omentum 

 connecting the lesser curvature of the stomach with tlic fissure of the ductus venosus is the 

 gaatro-fu/xilic ligament [lig. hepatogastricum]. 



The gastro-splenic ligament [lig. gastrolienale] connects the left extremity of 

 the stomacli with t h(; si)lecn, continuing the layers of peritoneum which enclose 

 the stomach (fig. 903). 



The gastro-phrenic and phreno-colic ligaments. — As the peritoneum passes 

 from tlic diapliiugni to the stomach it forms a small fold just to the left of the 



