ABSENCE OF THE INFEEIOE CAVA BELOW THE 

 DIAPHRAGM.! By Thomas Dwight, M.D., LL.D., Park- 

 man Professor of Anatomy at Harvard. (Plate I.) 



Although this anomaly is perfectly well recognised, it is still 

 very uncommon. The chief points of the manner, though not 

 the cause, of its occurrence are easily explained in accordance 

 with Hochstetter's researches on the development of the inferior 

 cava, though there is still much work to do, as he himself 

 points out. As this case is, like most others, in some respects 

 a peculiar one, it seems worth while to describe it. Having 

 done so, I shall compare it with such cases as I have been able 

 to find accounts of. I regret that my description must in many 

 points be defective, owing to the condition of the body when 

 the anomaly was discovered. 



The observation was made during the past winter on the body 

 of an aged white male. (The age given was 91.) I was told 

 that there was a case in the dissecting-room of the vena cava 

 on the left of the aorta. I found that most of the abdominal 

 viscera, and among them the liver, had been removed. The 

 main points were speedily recognised : namely, that the inferior 

 cava within the pericardium had no connection with what 

 appeared to be the displaced trunk of the vein ; but that the 

 latter entered the left side of the thorax with the aorta. 

 The subject was removed from the dissecting-room, and much 

 time and trouble was devoted to the injection of the venous 

 system (the arterial was already injected) by Dr Benjamin 

 Tenney ; but so much injury had been done that the injection 

 was far from perfect. A dried preparation was made of the 

 specimen. Three photographs were taken from it to serve as 

 bases for the illustrations. 



iThis anomaly has generally been described as absence of the inferior cava ; but 

 as that vessel certainly is present within the pericardium, the words " below the 

 diaphragm " do not seem superfluous. 



