a. and sb. Anat. Also 7 -nick, splancknick. [ad. med. or mod.L. splanchnic-us, ad. Gr. σπλαγχνικός, f. σπλάγχνον, usu. pl. σπλάγχνα, the inward parts, esp. the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. So F. splanchnique.]
A. adj. 1. a. Situated in, connected with, the viscera or intestines. Freq. in splanchnic nerve(s.
1694. Westmacott, Script. Herb., 49. It most sharply irritating the Splancknick fibres … compels … serosities to be cast out.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 536. Of the splanchnic nerves. These nerves are two in number, and distinguished into great and small.
1832. Owen, Mem. Pearly Nautilus, 63. The splanchnic veins from the liver, ovary, gizzard, &c.
1845. Todd & Bowman, Phys. Anat., II. 137. The great splanchnic nerve arises by separate roots.
1870. Flower, Osteol. Mamm., ii. 9. There are also certain bones called splanchnic, being developed within the substance of some of the viscera.
b. Occupied by the viscera (esp. in splanchnic cavity); of a visceral character.
1830. R. Knox, Béclard’s Anat., 39. The splanchnic cavity of the trunk is divided into two by … the diaphragm.
1851. Rep. Brit. Assoc., XX. 219. A space intervenes,… to designate which the term ‘peritoneal,’ or ‘splanchnic,’ may be used with perfect anatomical propriety.
1881. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci., Jan., 73. The two layers of the mesoblast, somatic and splanchnic.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 394. This appears to take place chiefly in the splanchnic area.
2. Affecting, pertaining or relating to, the viscera.
1681. Willis, Operat. Med., II. ii. 89. Splanchnick remedies or those which respect the bowels of the lower Belly.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), V. 307. In Splanchnic Obesity, the encumbered viscera are more or less buried in beds of fat.
1874. Coues, Birds N. W., 592. Other minor points of splanchnic details.
B. sb. A splanchnic nerve. Chiefly in pl.
1840. G. V. Ellis, Anat., 360. The great splanchnic … is a large white nerve,… which descends to the diaphragm.
1877. Dickinson, Diabetes, 27. After division of the splanchnics which are in the direct line of hepatic innervation.
So † Splanchnical a. Obs. rare.
1681. trans. Willis’ Rem. Med. Wks., Vocab., Splanchnical, belonging to the spleen.
1702. Phil. Trans., XXIII. 1582. Those generated in the … Guts, beget Cholical, Splanchnical, Hypocondriacal Pains.
