PERITONEAL SUPPORTS—(LIGAMENTUM PERITONEI).

The mesocolon dextra et sinistra as peritoneal supports are of much importance to surgeons. The right and left colon have been declared to exist and not to exist by various writers. The following remarks I assume to make after the examination of about two hundred cadavers, the last one hundred for the special purpose of tabulating mathematically the existence and length of the right and left mesocolon. The Scotch anatomist, Symington, declares he never saw a descending mesocolon. Treves examined one hundred cadavers and asserts that there is a descending mesocolon in 36 per cent. of subjects and an ascending mesocolon in 25 per cent. of subjects. Toldt claims one descending colon in twenty subjects. Gray declares that an ascending mesocolon exists "sometimes" and a descending mesocolon more frequently. Lesshaft claims that mesocolon descendens exist on an average once in every six subjects and that the mesocolons increase with age,