A treatise on special and general anatomy (Volume 2).

  • Horner, William E. (William Edmonds), 1793-1853.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on special and general anatomy (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    In man, it is a complete sac, having no hole in it; but in wo- man, its cavity communicates externally through the Fallopian tubes. It has a double use: In consequence of covering the viscera, it is so reflected from them to the sides of the abdomen, that its processes keep the viscera in their proper places, and, therefore, answer as ligaments: again, its internal surface being smooth, indeed, highly polished, and continually lubricated by a thin, albuminous fluid, corresponding with the synovial mem- brane of the joints, the motions which the viscera have upon each other in exercise, and in the peristaltic action of the bow- els, are much facilitated. The manner in which a double night-cap is applied to the head, will aflfbrd the easiest conception of the reflections of the peritoneum. If there were only one viscus in the belly, and that of a somewhat regular outline, as the spleen, the comparison would be rigid, and perfectly appreciable. One part of the cap is close to the head, and compares with the peritoneal coat of the spleen; the other is loose, and is equivalent to the peritoneum, where it is in contact with the parietes of the belly. It is also evident from this, that none of the viscera can be said to be within the cavity of tlie peritoneum; that they are all on its out- side; and that a viscus, in getting a coat from the peritoneum, merel}? makes a protrusion into its cavity. Starting with this simple proposition, it is easy to conceive of a second, a third body, and so on, deriving an external coat from a protrusion into the same sac. Admitting these bodies to be spheres, the proposition is immediately intelligible; and, as a last step from it, the idea is not rendered much more complex by substituting any bodies even the most irregular in form, for these spheres. Such, then, is the faf;t in regard to the stomach, intestines, &c.; they all, with the exceptions to be stated, derive an ex- ternal coat from the peritoneum. The Peritoneum is, for the most part, smoothly spread upon the interior surface of the abdominal muscles. It adheres to them with considerable firmness by means of intervening cellular substance: this adhesion, where it closes the posterior opening of the umbilicus, is unusually strong. Below, the uniformity of the membrane as it descends from the navel to the pelvis is inter- rupted by its being reflected over the urachus, and over the re- mains of the umbilical artery on each side. Where the urachus