TOPOGRAPHY OF THE THORAX AND ABDOMEN 57 



The internal surface may be divided into four areas cor- 

 responding to the four organs in contact with the spleen 

 anterointernally. The gastric area includes a little more 

 than the upper half of the spleen and may be bounded be- 

 low by a line drawn from the middle of the posterior border 

 to the junction of the upper three-fourths with the lower 

 fourth of the anterior border. The upper and inner part of 

 this area of the spleen is adherent to the stomach (Plate 

 XIV). The remainder of the gastric area is separated from 

 the stomach by the lesser peritonaeal cavity internal to the 

 hilus of the spleen and by the gastrosplenic omentum and 

 greater peritonaeal cavity external to the hilus. The pos- 

 terior part of the internal surface below the gastric area is 

 in contact with the posterior part of the anterior (external) 

 surface and external border of the kidney. The pancreatic 

 area is a small triangular space between the lower part of 

 the gastric area anterosuperiorly, the renal area posteriorly 

 and the posterior border of the spleen near the inferior 

 pole, inferiorly. The remainder of the internal surface of 

 the spleen, including the inferior pole, is in contact with 

 the splenic flexure of the colon. 



■Quain places the upper pole of the spleen at the level 

 of the disc between the tenth and eleventh vertebrae, and 

 the lower pole at the first lumbar vertebra. Deaver places 

 the upper limit at the ninth and the lower limit at the 

 eleventh thoracic spine. Both of these measurements give 

 a very much shorter spleen than is seen in this subject. 



THE KIDNEYS 



The kidneys appear in Plates XVI, XVII, XVIII, and 

 XXVIII to XXXV. The two organs present many points 

 in common but differ sufficiently in the details of their 



