Anatomy and Embalming / A Treatise on the Science and Art of Embalming, the Latest and Most Successful Methods of Treatment and the General Anatomy Relating to this Subject

by Albert John Nunnamaker; Charles Otto Dhonau

—The large intestine extends from the termination of the ileum to the anus. It is about five or more feet in length or about one fifth of the whole extent of the intestinal canal. It is largest at its commencement at the caecum, and gradually diminishes in size as far as the rectum, where there is a dilatation of considerable size just above the anus.

The large intestine differs from the small intestine in its greater size, its more fixed position, its sacculated form.

The large intestine in its course describes an arch, which surrounds the convolutions of the small intestines. It commences in the right inguinal region, in a dilated part of the caecum. It ascends through the right lumbar and the right hypochondriac regions to the under surface of the liver, it here takes a bend to the left, the hepatic flexure, and passes transversely across the abdomen on the confines of the epigastric and umbilical regions, to the left hypochondriac region; it then bends again, the splenic flexure, and descends through the left lumbar region to the left inguinal region, where it becomes convoluted and forms the sigmoid flexure; finally it enters the pelvic cavity and descends along the posterior wall to the anus.

The large intestine is supplied by the branches of the inferior mesenteric artery, and the veins are of the same name.

The large intestines are divided into the caecum, colon and rectum.

Caecum.

—The caecum is the commencement of the large intestines, it is a large blind pouch situated below the ileo caecal valve. The ileo caecal valve is the valve between the exit of the small intestines and the commencement of the large intestines. The caecum is held mostly in place by the folds of the peritoneum.

The Vermiform Appendix.—The appendix is found only in the human, the higher apes, and the wombat, although in certain rodents a somewhat similar arrangement exists. The appendix is a long, narrow, worm shaped, musculo-membranous tube, which starts from the inner side of the posterior wall of the caecum, below and behind the termination of the ileum. It is the seat for a very common disease called appendicitis. It varies from one half to nine inches in length, its average being about three inches. Its diameter is from one eighth to one quarter of an inch.