230 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1728. 



of her finger, just above the sternum, and so continued without increase or 

 pulsation, till she was brought to bed, when it began to be enlarged, on her 

 having a hard labour; agreeably to what practitioners have observed, that acci- 

 dents of this nature often happen to women in labour. 



This was about 4 years since, and from that time it had continued gradually 

 increasing, till it was arrived to almost the highest pitch of extension; and she 

 had all along been troubled with a palpitation, pain, and straitness within the 

 thorax, great interruptions in her rest, and frequent sinkings, together with a 

 constant beating along the chest up to the tumour; in which likewise there was 

 a pulsation correspondent to the regular pulse, shaking the tumour at every 

 stroke, and manifest to the eye as well as the touch. Yet she was otherwise 

 hearty and healthy. 



The apex of the tumour, which was towards the middle, in the prominent 

 part of it, was beginning to mortify, through an over distension, and the com- 

 mon outward integuments were the first that seemed to suff^er; but the disten- 

 sion continuing, the mortification increased, and was quickly communicated to 

 the outer coat of the artery likewise, which therefore sloughed off, as well as 

 the other integuments, and being at length worn away, just at the extremity 

 made a sudden aperture, about twice the size of a goose quill. The blood in- 

 stantly gushed forth, as from a stream or torrent, and the patient died in less 

 than a minute. 



On opening the body, in the heart there was little remarkable, except that 

 the left ventricle was somewhat larger, as were likewise the columnae carneae, 

 than they naturally should be. There was little observable likewise in the aorta 

 itself, till they came to the curvature, on the upper side of which was the basis 

 of the tumour, forming a cylindrical stem of 4 inches long while in the cavity 

 of the thorax; but extending itself into a circular form of a larger dimension, 

 when it became external. On opening the under part of the aorta opposite to 

 this basis, and carrying the incision throughout its whole extent in the thorax, 

 the trunk retained its usual form and dimensions, and was not at all dilated; 

 but in the upper part above described, just on this side the orifice of the right 

 subclavian artery, which was nearer than usual to the orifice of the left carotid, 

 there was a preternatural circular aperture of half an inch diameter; on dividing 

 this aperture, and carrying on the incision to the apex of the tumour, its whole 

 internal substance appeared. The edges of the aperture at the basis of the 

 tumour were hard, and almost cartilaginous, and seemingly the remains of thick 

 and fleshy fibres; which on a nicer inspection they appeared to be in fact, viz. 

 the broken fibres of the inner, or what is commonly called, the muscular coat 

 of the artery; which terminating here, the tumour immediately increased to 2 



