The Stomach and Spleen. 185 



The following artery may be identified but not traced to its term- 

 ination until later, so that the bile duct and portal vein are not injured, 



(c) The hepatic artery (a. hepatica), the continuation of the 

 coeliac, passes forward and to the right, giving off small 

 branches to the pancreas . Its first main branch is the 

 gastroduodenal artery (a. gastroduodenalis). The latter 

 is distributed chiefly to the first portion of the intestine as the 

 superior pancreaticoduodenal artery (a. pancreatico- 

 duodenalis superior), but a recurrent branch, the right gas- 

 troepiploic artery (a. gastroepiploica dextra), traverses the 

 greater omentum to the greater curvature where it anasto- 

 moses with the left gastroepiploic artery. 

 After giving off the gastroduodenal artery, the hepatic enters 

 the lesser omentum on its way to the liver. A small branch, 

 the right gastric artery (a. gastrica dextra) passes to the 

 pylorus and anastomoses across the lesser curvature with a 

 branch of the left gastric artery. 



The veins of the stomach and spleen are tributaries of the portal 

 vein. Accompanying the branches of the splenic artery are the tribu- 

 taries of the splenic vein (v. lienalis), including the left gastToepiploic 

 vein. Accompanying the branches of the left gastric artery are the 

 tributaries of the coronary vein (v.coronaria veJntriculi). The splenic 

 and coronary veins enter the left wall of the portal vein through a short 

 common trunk. 



On the right side of the stomach the superior pancreaticoduo- 

 denal vein is united with the right gastroepiploic vein to form a 

 short trunk, the gastroduodenal vein (v. gastroduodenalis), which 

 enters the right wall of the portal vein. The left gastroepiploic vein 

 receives tributaries from the dorsal surface of the pyloric antrum. 



The abdominal portion of the tenth cranial, or vagus 



nerve (n. vagus) may be traced from the oesophagus to the 

 surface of the stomach. The left cord appears on the left 

 wall of the oesophagus; crossing the ventral surface of the 

 latter obliquely to the right, it ramifies on the ventral 

 portion of the lesser curvature. The right cord passes to the 

 stomach in a similar manner from the dorsal surface of the 

 oesophagus. 

 5. Cut across the stomach at the pyloric antrum. Divide the 

 oesophagus, and remove the stomach from the body. Open the 



