Visceral

Visceral (Latin visceralis, from vis-era-internal parts), belonging to, relating to the internal organs, visceral [in opposition to 'parietal' (see), wall-like]. Thus, the V. skull (cranium viscerale) is called that part of it which includes the beginnings of the digestive and respiratory organs (internal organs), contrasting it with the 'cerebral' skull (cranium cerebrale).- The V. skeleton is called in embryology the structures arising from the so-called branchial arches (arcus branchiales), namely the jaws, the malleus, the hyoid apparatus, part of the laryngeal cartilages.- The V. tube is the tube containing the internal organs of the head, neck, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis, located ventral to the spine or notochord (chorda dorsalis), in opposition to the neural tube, which contains the central organs of the nervous system (brain and spinal cord).- The V. layer of the pleura, peritoneum (pleura, peritonaeum viscerale) is that part of these serous membranes which covers the corresponding internal organs of the thoracic and abdominal cavities, etc. Finally, V. branches of arteries are called the arteries supplying this or that internal organ.