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

Fig. 24—The caecum and colon laid open to show the ileo-caecal valve. (Gray)

The Colon.

—The colon is divided into three parts, the ascending, transverse and the descending colon.

The ascending colon is smaller than the caecum, with which it is continuous. It passes upward from its commencement at a point corresponding to the ileo-caecal valve, to the under surface of the right lobe of the liver, on the right of the gall bladder, where it is lodged in a shallow depression on the liver; here it bends abruptly inward to the left, forming the hepatic flexure. It is held to the posterior wall of the abdomen by folds of the peritoneum.

The transverse colon is the longest part of the small intestines, passes transversely from the right to the left across the abdomen, opposite the confines of the epigastric and umbilical regions, where it curves downward beneath the lower end of the spleen, forming the splenic flexure. In its course the transverse colon describes an arch, the concavity of which is directed backward toward the vertebral column and a little upward.

This is the most movable part of the colon, only covered by peritoneum and held to the back wall by the folds of the peritoneum. The transverse colon is in relation, by its upper surface with the liver and gall bladder the great curvature of the stomach, and the lower end of the spleen; by its under surface with the small intestines; by its anterior surface with the anterior layers of the great omentum and the abdominal wall; its posterior surface on the right is in relation with the duodenum and on the left it is in contact with the convolutions of the jejunum and ileum.

The descending colon passes downward through the left hypochondriac region and lumbar region along the outer border of the left kidney. At the lower end of the left kidney it turns inward where it terminates in the formation of the sigmoid flexure. The descending colon is held to the back wall by folds of the peritoneum.

The sigmoid flexure, the narrowest part of the colon, is situated in the left inguinal region and communicates with the rectum.

The Rectum.

—The rectum is the terminal part of the large intestines, and extends from the termination of the sigmoid flexure to the anus. The adult rectum in male is from four to six inches in length, and in the female is from three to five inches in length.