18 I'HILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO ]7'2'1. 



swelling increased the woman became affected with dyspnoea. After liiigerinu; 

 for nearly 14 months, a period was at length put to her sufferings by death. 



On opening the abdomen, which was swelled to a prodigious size, while the 

 rest of the body was greatly emaciated, an immense mass presented itself, 

 resembling suet, except that it was not quite so white; it filled the whole cavity 

 of the abdomen, so that neither stomach, liver, nor intestines could be seen. 

 It had several adhesions, especially in both the hypochondria. It descended 

 almost into the pelvis, was attached to the liver, and oppressed by its weight 

 the stomach, duodenum, colon, and jejunum. It was intimately connected 

 with the adipose membrane of the kidneys, especially the left. The colon, 

 a little above where it terminates in the rectum, was so completely envelloped 

 in this suety mass, as to have no passage for the fences remaining; hence for 

 many days preceding the patient's death, no fieces were discharged per anum, 

 either spontaneously or by means of clysters. 



This enormous omentum, after being taken out of the body, was found to 

 weigh l6i lb. avoirdupois, not including what was left adhering to the different 

 viscera, and which was supposed to be at least 2 lb. more; a most astonishing 

 mass, if it be considered that even in a very corpulent, full-grown subject, the 

 omentum scarcely weighs 3 lb. Mention, however, is made by Gregory 

 Horstius, and in the Ephemerid. German, ann. x, of even a larger omentum 

 than this. 



The blood-vessels in the interior of this substance were exceedingly dilated ; 

 some were as large as a goose-quill, others terminated in a sort of aneurisms. 

 From the largest of these aneurisms, as the author terms them, about 6 oz. 

 of black blood were extracted, intermixed with some white lumps. This mass 

 of omentum seemed to be composed of a number of lobes intimately connected 

 with each other. Some of these lobes were about the size of a small apple, and 

 nearly of the same shape. The middle part was harder than the rest, and could 

 scarcely be cut with a knife. 



With regard to other particulars observed in this body; the lower part of 

 the liver was become scirrhous, and in the gall-bladder were found several stones 

 of a black colour, like coal, friable, and so light as to swim upon water. The 

 glands of the mesentery were scirrhous; indeed some of them had acquired 

 almost a stony hardness. The small intestines were inflamed; nearly the whole 

 of the colon, with the cascum, was in a gangrenous state. The right kidney 

 had two ureters. The pelvis of this kidney was divided by a thick septum of 

 the same texture with the rest of the parenchyma of the kidney; thus in 

 the right lumbar region, there was a double kidney, a double pelvis, and a 



