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 cystic duct is about an inch and a half in length, and passes obliquely downward to the left from the neck of the gall bladder, and joins the hepatic duct.

The common bile duct (ductus communis choledochous) is the common excretory duct of the liver and the gall bladder, and is formed by the union of the cystic and hepatic ducts. It descends to the middle portion of the duodenum, where it unites with the pancreatic duct, the two passing obliquely through the wall of the descending portion of the duodenum. The tissues of the liver are nourished by the blood from the hepatic arteries.

The Pancreas.

—The pancreas (the sweet bread) is a gland similar in structure to the salivary glands; is about seven inches long, of a grayish white color; its weight varies from two to six ounces. It is situated behind the stomach, and it secretes the pancreatic juice. It extends to the right in a part of the epigastric space. The tail lies above the left kidney, and is in contact with the lower end of the spleen and in the left hypochondriac region; the body lies behind the stomach and transverse colon and in front of the great aorta, portal vein and inferior vena cava. The arteries nourishing it are the large and small pancreatic, which are branches of the splenic artery.

The pancreatic duct is the principal excretory duct of the pancreas. It extends transversely from the left to the right through the substance of the pancreas.

After leaving the body of the pancreas, it unites with the common bile duct of the liver where it empties into the duodenum (first section of the small intestines after leaving the stomach).

The pancreatic duct carries pancreatic juice (a digestive fluid) from the pancreas to the duodenum.

The Spleen.

—The spleen belongs to that class of bodies known as ductless glands and has no excretory duct; is oblong, flattened, soft, very brittle, very vascular, of a very dark bluish red color; is situated in the left hypochondriac region behind and to the left of the stomach; is five inches long, three inches wide and two inches thick and weighs about seven ounces. The vessels which nourish it are the splenic artery and splenic vein. Function. It is supposed to furnish blood corpuscles.