1826.] iPkitosophical Transactions for IS25, Part II. 219 



the diaphragm, the spleen much reduced in size and flattened, 

 attached to the super-renal capsule of the left kidney, and the 

 left kidney itself, imbedded in, but not adhering to the latter, 

 and retaining its ureter, which descended into the bladder. This, 

 as well as the uterus and its appendages, were observed in situ, 

 exhibiting strong marks of having been in a diseased state for 

 some time previously to the death of the individual. Fragments 

 only of the intestinal tube could be found, some of them of con- 

 siderable dimensions, and among them part of the coecum, with 

 its vermiform appendix, and portions of the ilium. Several 

 large pieces of the peritoneal membrane were likewise observed." 



" The cavity of the abdomen being emptied of all its contents, 

 ^continued the circular incision back to the spine, which I 

 divided at the first lumbar vertebra. I next sawed off the 

 thighs a few inches from the hip, and dissected carefully all the 

 soft parts from the pelvis, so as to ascertain the condition and 

 dimensions of this important part of the female skeleton. In 

 performing this last operation, which occupied me two hours a 

 day for nearly a week (some medical or scientific friends being 

 present at each sitting), we could not help being struck with the 

 remarkable degree of preservation of the muscles, such as had 

 never before been noticed in Egyptian mummies, and such as 

 to admit of their being separated from one another, as readily 

 as in the dissection of a recent subject. Nor was the perfect 

 condition of the articulatory membranes and ligaments less 

 surprising, which allowed us to impart to the great articulation 

 of the thigh with the ilium, its various movements, a circum- 

 stance seldom observed, even in modern preparations of the 

 pelvis. 



" The cavity of the thorax was next examined, and this I 

 effected without disturbing the anterior portions of the ribs or 

 breast bone, by simply detaching the diaphragm all round, and 

 bringing it avv'ay. It was found that the pericardium, which 

 adhered partially to the diaphragm, came away with it, and that 

 a laceration had taken place at the same time in that sac. 



" This circumstance denoting that the heart was present, I 

 introduced my hand to remove it, when it was found suspended, 

 iu situ, by its large blood vessels, in a very contracted state, 

 attached to the lungs by its natural connexions with them. The 

 latter organs adhered throughout their posterior surface to the 

 ribs, and were brought away altogether in as perfect a state as 

 could be eftected. 



" The last cavity examined was that of the cranium ; for this 

 purpose it was sawed in two, horizontally, and when thus 

 opened, it was ascertained that the brain had been removed 

 through the nostrils ; the plates of the inner nasal bones having 

 been destroyed in the operation by the instrument employed, as 

 evidenced by the state of those parts. It is a matter of no little 

 surprise how, under circumstances of so much difficulty, the 



