8 PROFESSOR THOMAS DWIGHT. 



The body was puny and ill-nourished. The heart, before it 

 was distended by the venous injection, and in fact the whole 

 vascular system, was remarkably small, — the diameter of the 

 aorta just below the diaphragm being 2 cm., and at the bifur- 

 cation 1-5 cm. The small size of the veins is, however, the 

 most striking of these peculiarities. The descending aorta 

 occupies throughout its normal position, dividing opposite the 

 middle of the 4th lumbar vertebra, a little to the left of the 

 median line. The union of the iliac veins occurs behind the 

 left iliac artery, opposite the disc below the 4th lumbar vertebra, 

 about 1*7 cm. below the bifurcation of the aorta. Thus the 

 right common iliac vein does not accompany its artery (fig. 1), 

 The resulting trunk follows the aorta at first on its left, but 

 gradually getting further back, so as to be almost behind it 

 when the two pass together into the thorax. After this the vein 

 is somewhat separated from the aorta ; but this very probably 

 is the result of distention by the injection. At the top of the 

 9th thoracic vertebra the vein passes nearly transversely across, 

 between the spine and the aorta to the median line, whence it 

 ascends inclining backwards and to the right to the level of the 

 top of the 5th thoracic, where it turns forward over the root 

 of the right lung, and ends as the azygos, in the superior 

 cava. 



The left common iliac vein has a maximum diameter of 8 mm., 

 which is less than that of the external, and much less than that 

 of the internal iliac. The last has a diameter of about 12 mm. 

 The ricrht common iliac is a trifle smaller than the left. It is of 

 very nearly the same size as the external. The right internal 

 iliac is a very small vessel. The trunk representing the cava is 

 little larger than the left iliac. In its lower part it is practically 

 the same. On its appearance in the right half of the thorax 

 it is a scant 1 cm. Just before its termination it has a 

 maximum diameter of 13 mm. The superior vena cava is also 

 small. Just above the entrance of the azygos it is about 

 11 mm. 



The only account I can offer of the intercostal veins is a very 

 incomplete one. There is a descending branch along the front 

 of the spine to the right of the oesophagus, which probably col- 

 lects the veins from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th spaces on the 



