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DIAPHRAGM (Gr. Scat/pay,aa, a partition)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 166 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIAPHRAGM (Gr. Scat/pay,aa, a See also:partition) . The diaphragm or midriff (Anglo-Saxon, See also:mid, See also:middle, hrif, belly) in human See also:anatomy is a large fibro-See also:muscular partition between the cavities of the See also:thorax and See also:abdomen; it is See also:convex toward the thorax, See also:concave toward the abdomen, and consists of a central tendon and a muscular margin. The central tendon(q, fig. r) is See also:trefoil in shape, its leaflets being right, See also:left and anterior; of these the right is the largest and the Left the smallest. The fleshy See also:fibres rise, in front from the back of the xiphoid See also:cartilage of the sternum (d), laterally by six serrations, from the inner surfaces of the See also:lower six ribs, interdigitating with the transversalis, posteriorly from the arcuate ligaments, of which there are five, a pair of See also:external, a pair of See also:internal, and a single median one. The external arcuate See also:ligament (h) stretches from the tip of the twelfth See also:rib (b) to the costal See also:process of the first lumbar vertebra in front of the quadratus lumborum muscle (o), the internal and middle are continuations of the crura which rise from the ventro-lateral aspects of the bodies of the lumbar vertebrae, the right (e) coming from three, the left (f) from two. On reaching the level of the twelfth thoracic vertebra each crus spreads out into a See also:fan-shaped See also:mass of fibres, of which the innermost join their See also:fellows from the opposite crus, in front of the aortic opening (k), to See also:form the middle arcuate . es. ligament; the See also:outer ones (g) See also:arch in front of the psoas muscle (n) to the tip of the costal process of the first lumbar vertebra to form the internal arcuate ligament, while the intermediate ones pass to the central tendon. There are three large openings in the diaphragm; the aortic (k) is behind the middle arcuate ligament and transmits the aorta, the vena azygos See also:major, and the thoracic duct. In the right leaflet is an opening (sometimes called the See also:hiatus quadrotus) for the inferior vena cava and a See also:branch of the right phrenic See also:nerve (m), while in front and a little to the left of the aortic opening is one for the See also:oesophagus and the two pneumo- gastric nerves (1), the left being in front and the right behind. .0 u. ^u .0 u.

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End of Article: DIAPHRAGM (Gr. Scat/pay,aa, a partition)

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